the many faces of

People do not usually take self portraits seriously. When we knew nothing about selfies, it was mostly perceived as a result of inflated ego. But for me it's a road of discovering your true nature and sharing an idea that there's a whole Universe inside us.

I began shooting them when I was 15 or 16 years old. I had problems with accepting my appearance and each time I looked in the mirror, I didn't like what I saw there. I was surrounded by girls from my class who tried to look elder, but I didn't want to grow up by force. The pressure of "beauty standards" made all the difference - I agreed to accept an affirmation that I wasn't beautiful. I thought time could change something - I would grow up and my appearance can change a bit. Till that I tried to escape all the mirrors and cameras. I didn't share my real pictures on social network profiles. I was absolutely unsure in myself.

But since I had found an interest in photography, I began practicing portraits on me - I was my 24 hours available model, with no necessity to explain something. And step by step, with each image, I was able to notice something attractive in my appearance. I was preparing my future shots very carefully: clothes, place but the most important - I started exploring my beauty in details. And as soon as I noticed it, I was able to change my whole understanding of beauty.

All the changes begin from the inside - this is the first thing I realized after years of practicing. I didn't have to change the way people around saw my appearance, I had to change myself and my angle of view. When you do it - everything around transforms: new relationships, new attitudes appear - like you actually change and become a new person. People always reflect your own relationships with yourself.

The second important thing was to realize that beauty has no criteria or any special characteristics. It's endless. Everyone is beautiful and everyone has a freedom of expression in appearance and body.

And the last one, in self portraits I did my first attempts to accept femininity which I had been denying since teenage years.

I had been shooting naked self portraits as I wanted to explore myself as a woman and I definitely couldn't see anything wrong in it. But no matter, I always had a pressure that shooting your own body was wrong, that it was a demonstration of disrespect to your man. I couldn't understand why my body was perceived as a man's belongings or why women's body was something everyone should be ashamed. With each nude self portrait I wanted to protest against it. I didn't want neither me nor somebody else being judged because of something absolutely natural.

Self portraits practice it's not just about a beautiful profile picture. It is actually something that helps you mentally. It forces us to look inside our nature and discover it in our appearance. I continue my work in self portraits direction because I want people to change an understanding of it. Nobody teaches us to love ourselves but mostly that's why lots of problems appear.

Creating self portraits bring me nearer to the understanding of who I am.