We photographers spend a great deal of time creating images of other people, and for good reason! That’s our job, or at least for those that take portraits. While we enjoy this aspect of our job, do you ever think that making portraits of yourself is sometimes just as important? Think about it for a moment. If you’re in school for photography, you surely have been given, or will be given, a self-portrait assignment, and if you are a professional, or aspiring to be one, there are certain advantages to periodically photographing yourself. You can probably think of many reasons why this may be important, but if you need a jumpstart, here are five reasons I can point out:

1. Provide yourself with some free PR/marketing material. How many photographers do you know with some great portraits of themselves that they use for their own headshots? A lot! I’m willing to bet, also, that many of those shots were taken by their respected selves. If you want to get a photograph that you like, that you can use, that fits your style, then take a portrait of yourself. For example, the portrait above was taken while co-teaching a class in Junction, Texas. At the time, it was the newest self-portrait (come to think of it, it still is), and a magazine needed a feature shot. There is was, exactly how I wanted it, and it was fresh. This means I didn’t have to dig through older profile photographs and give them one that potentially could have been seen on other material bearing my name.

2. Discover your potential. Want to try a new portrait technique? Don’t have a willing model near? Use yourself! One of the easiest people, and most challenging, to work with is yourself! Work on a new lighting setup, test out new locations, while at the same time, you work on building your ability, producing some usable content for reason #1, and maybe more significant, bolstering your confidence in trying something new and similar with said new techniques, locations, etc.

3. Creativity and Perspective. Wow, what a wonderful time to be super creative! We shoot digitally, we have a host of post-production techniques and software at our fingertips, and taking self-portraits gives you the time to take creativity to the max in certain situations. Also, the time you spend being creative with your own self-portrait is just prep time on becoming more and more creative with your client portraiture. You can also create the correct perspective you want in your own portraits. Seeing and photographing yourself in a way that is self-reflective may also help you discover what is to be conveyed in a portrait of another.

4. Social media needs better photographs. Alright, so this should probably go under Reason #1, but I believe it needs its own point of significance. One of the most visual elements that belongs to you is your profile photos used for social media entities, such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. A quality profile photo, a visually creative and stimulating, telling self-portrait shows your ability with the camera as well as portrays a level of professionalism on your part. And who’s kidding who, many profile photographs just plain stink, and photographers, especially those who are in the business, ought to consider how theirs look before uploading and saying, “Hey World, this is me!”

5. It’s fun and educational! Taking self-portraits shouldn’t feel cheesy, unless that’s the feeling you’re going for. Self-portraits are good to have, and you should enjoy taking them, for the reasons above, and for whatever other beneficial reasons you can think of! Ever since art began, self-portraits have found their way to viewers, from Van Gogh, to Andy Warhol, to you! Each new portrait you make can be educational in its approach and valuable in what you might just learn! Sharing your self-portraits with others will also turn up needed review and critique (and we all know as photographers we should listen to constructive criticism).

Just google self-portrait, and you might just find inspiration for your next shot! If you have any more reasons why we photogs ought to take a few images of ourselves from time to time, I would love to read them in the comments section! More to come…