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7 Days in Isolation 7 Self-Portraits

  • Oliver Mayhall

It’s a very confusing and surreal time for creatives and freelancers. In fact, everyone for that matter. My finger has continuously tapped the delete key on my calendar erasing my livelihood week-by-week - it’s a scary time. My studio has closed for the foreseeable future and I have nobody to photograph. So, what now? I’m trying to stay positive and optimistic despite the current situation. I now have time on my hands. I can explore things I wouldn’t have otherwise explored and can finally tackle the tasks on my to-do list that I’ve been meaning to do for a while. So far I’ve redesigned my website, set up a blog, and started planning future personal projects once normality ensues. However, for the last week, as I’ve been in isolation and can’t take portraits of anyone else, I decided to take portraits of myself and write a little piece/diary about each portrait. That’s 7 days in isolation, 7 self-portraits.

Day 1 - I woke up at 6am. It’s a beautiful sunny day. I’m feeling quite excited and optimistic about the project, the challenge of it (despite the moody face). I bought this glass prism a while back with the idea of using it on a shoot, but I never did. Well, I have now.
Day 2 - First thing on the menu? Breakfast.
Day 3 - Announcements were made yesterday about the Government's support for the self-employed. I’m feeling anxious. I haven’t been self-employed for long and I don’t know where that leaves me...  So, I let the shower curtains express how I was feeling today.
Day 4 - The sun has been shining all week. Which has been wonderful - I’m trying to be glass half full here. Whilst it’s frustrating not to be able to go out and enjoy the sunshine as I normally would, I’d still rather it was beaming through my window. If I can’t bask in the sun outside, I will bask in the sun inside.
Day 5 - I decided I wasn’t going to make any plans for today’s portrait. I feel like it’s always important to experiment as a creative. Whilst planning can be a good thing for a shoot, planning too much can often take the improvisation out of it.
This was actually the first idea I tried. I placed the camera on the floor and set a self-timer with twenty shots. This was one of them. The window light was silhouetting me from behind.
Day 6 - A sequence of images for today’s portrait. I’m not going to be going to the barbers for a while now... I last shaved my head when I was thirteen after a dodgy hair dye experiment at home went drastically wrong. I think it’s time for a trim.
Day 7 - I decided to finish the week with another experiment by using two things I recently picked up from an antique shop in Crystal Palace - an old theatre light and a magnifying glass. I wanted to try and create something that I would really love. My personal work has always leaned towards black and white with a twist of the abstract and surreal - so I thought it would be a fitting self-portrait to finish on.

It’s been a really interesting week for me. I’ve learned a lot (and lost a lot of hair). I felt like I developed as a photographer as the series continued. I improvised, experimented, and there were frustrations and delights in equal measure... It’s not easy being on the other side of the camera!

It’s as if in a time of confusion and complete disruption to my daily life, I became more creatively resourceful. I’m confined to the space I’m in so it almost becomes easier in a way, simplified.
I really hope you enjoyed the series, stay safe.
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