120: Creative Exploration Through Self Portraits with Angela Doran

Sabrina: On today’s episode of the shoot at straight podcast, I’m interviewing my friend, Angela Duran, and we are talking all about self portraiture. Angela has the most incredible body of self portrait work. And as a friend of hers, I have loved watching her online, the images she shares and the creativity and the vulnerability and the emotions and the moment she captures.

Are just mind blowing. They are so beautiful and she really does make it look so easy. I’ve always been fascinated by this process. And so on today’s episode, we’re digging in to how she got started and how she got over being awkward in front of the camera, where her inspiration comes from. The technical side of getting started with self portrait work, and we’re also talking about how it has affected her professional work with her clients.

This is a really great chat today, and if you’ve ever been curious about taking on a personal project like self portraits, this episode is for you. Let’s dive in. Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Sabrina Gebhardt. Here, I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing business, motherhood, and life.

Myself, along with my guests, we’ll get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories, because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too. The shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.

Welcome back to the shoot it straight podcast. My friends today is the fourth week in the series where I’m featuring the expertise of some new educators and I’m really excited about all of them. I think you’ve heard me say that every single week now. They’re also different and which is just really fun to have a chance to work with all these women and to kind of Bring their expertise to the world.

So today’s chat is with my old friend um who i’ve known for a really long time my friend angela duran and She’s really special to me. I mean, they’re all, they’re all really special to me. Okay. But she’s really special because we met ages ago at a retreat. Was that in 2017? What, when do we think that was?

I think so. That sounds close, right? Yeah. So it’s been a long time. Angela has also been the guest expert at two of my Root to Rise Mastermind retreats, which is really excellent. She’s led sessions and the women there have gotten to pick her brain and ask her questions and learn about her creative process.

And it’s just been really, really cool. So she’s a beautiful soul. I’m excited about our chat today, but before we dive in, Angela, will you please tell the audience a little bit about yourself?

Angela: Thank you. That was such a sweet intro. Um, I’m Angela Duran. I am a lifestyle photographer for families and brands based in Austin.

Let’s see. I’m a wife. I’m a mom. I’m a Scorpio. I’m an Enneagram 4. I’m a generator. Um, can you tell I dig into myself a lot? I love it.

Sabrina: But

Angela: yeah, that’s me.

Sabrina: Today, we are talking about self portraiture, and if you do not already follow Angela online, I want you to do that immediately, hit pause, go follow her, come back and finish this episode.

But what you’ll see when you start following her is that she is an incredibly gifted photographer and her self portraiture work is. It is so inspiring and I love watching you create this work and also just how drawn you are to it. Like, I don’t know. It’s just like a part of who you are. And so I can’t wait to dig into this today because this is so different from me.

Um, and I just, I think it’s so cool. So we’ll start at the beginning. The listeners know I like to kind of start with the foundation of every conversation, so I would love to hear from you, Angela. How did this love affair with self portraiture begin? Were you always drawn to it or what brought you to the process?

Angela: So I was getting teared up a little bit when you were saying that because I do feel like it’s hard to separate myself from self portraiture, but honestly, thinking about this, it actually started before I was an official photographer. It really started when I was pregnant. And I was like, fascinated by the changes in my body.

And so, gosh, you know, this was like, 16 years ago and I had a little point and shoot. I think we all did it at that time. You know, we’re carrying them out to the club and what have you, but, um, I just started taking pictures of myself. I have no idea where those photos are right now. I’m still really awkward.

But yeah, I was just fascinated with how my body was changing. And so that’s when it began.

Sabrina: Cool. So you started the process, you started kind of falling in love with the experimentation we’ll say, um, during pregnancy, which is so cool. Did the self portraits feel intuitive right away? Like, or did you, do you remember feeling like awkward and unpleasant about it?

Like you wanted to document it, but it also felt weird. I’m going to be honest. I’ve told you this many times before, but like, I have tried and failed with self portraits so many times because I cannot seem to get past the awkwardness. Um, and so I’m curious if it felt like that to you in the beginning.

Angela: I never felt like Not at ease about it.

I think it is awkward to some degree, but again, starting back then in pregnancy, you know, it’s beautiful and I didn’t feel awkward taking them. I mean, looking at them later, I was probably like, oh. You know, like, I’m just kind of like getting my footing with self portraiture, but yeah, you’ve got to move past the awkwardness.

It does feel intuitive to me, especially in the last, I’d say probably six, seven years. I’ve like really dug into myself to try to figure myself out. You know, got a lot of, a lot of trauma, a lot of childhood things. And it does help, I will say, if I’m home alone, the ones in public are not. They don’t always feel, you know,

Sabrina: like, they’re not as easy.

Angela: They’re definitely not as easy. Um, I do feel a little bit more self conscious if I’m somewhere where, you know, there might be someone, it’s not my preference, but also if that’s what I’m wanting, then I’m just going to power through, but yeah, it’s, it’s hard. It’s hard in the beginning. I would say to move past the awkwardness, but you just have to.

You just have to do it. It’s mostly if you’re wanting to tackle something like this or to get started. Um, that’s just like, just know in the back of your mind, that’s going to be part of it. Which, and that’s weird. That’s kind of like, that’s interesting to me because I feel like you have also like dug into yourself a great bit and you like, you know yourself really well.

Sabrina: Yeah,

Angela: it,

Sabrina: it’s funny because I don’t, I mean, generally speaking compared to the average woman, like I don’t mind being photographed, you know, like I don’t mind being on a stage. I don’t mind being in a, you know, a spotlight, so to speak, but it’s something about having to do it myself. Like I don’t. And so you’re an enneagram for you’re very in your emotions and I’m a three.

So I am a little less emotion, but more performance. And so I wonder if it’s like the perfectionism and the like, I can’t get it right. I also know that because you’re like the Enneagram for the emotion, you have so many beautiful sides to you. And like, I can see all the facets of you and your emotions and they’re just incredible.

I’m like, I feel like I’m real one note, you know? And so I’m like, how do I capture the, like, I don’t know. It’s just, it does. I need you to just, I’ve told you probably a hundred times in the last seven years. I need you to come train me under in this project.

Angela: Well, first of all, I do not feel like you’re one note.

I’ve, I’ve seen different sides to you and they’re all beautiful, but I do feel like you bring up a good point because I don’t prefer to be photographed. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don’t prefer to be on stage. So

Sabrina: yeah, it’s interesting. Yeah. Okay. So going back to the awkwardness, do you. I mean, and you’ve been doing it so long, you probably don’t remember, but do you feel like if you look back over the process over the years, that there’s a certain moment in time when you’re like, okay, this isn’t, Awkward anymore.

It’s more of like filling a need for me like you’ve moved past it. It’s like, I don’t know. Do you know what I’m asking? Like, where you can just remember that like, okay, I’m going to do a self portrait today. And there’s no, like, there’s literally no awkwardness. You’re just like, this is part of my day.

This is what we’re doing.

Angela: Yeah, I couldn’t tell you when that switch happened, but I can tell you now it’s just like. Oh, there’s some pretty light. I’m just going to bang this out really quick. It’s just very like, and I can get it done literally in five minutes.

Sabrina: Okay. So sticking with it is probably just the name of the game, like committing to doing it.

I’m curious, obviously self portraiture for you is a deep personal project. You know, we hear in the industry about personal projects and the importance of everybody having one. For you, it fills, like, an emotional, creative void, I would imagine. Do you think there’s other benefits to doing this work other than just the self serving part?

Do you think it’s something that all photographers should explore because of these extra benefits?

Angela: I mean, I would encourage photographers to explore this because not only is personal work fulfilling, and we all know that, But for me, it allows for experimentation, you know, like maybe I’ve seen something somewhere and I’m like, Ooh, I want to try that.

And then I figure out a way to incorporate that into the self portrait work. A lot of the times it’s working with light for me personally, um, or slow shutter or, you know, just all of those things that. Aren’t in your everyday work, I would say. So, yeah, experimentation for me is a huge reason and it has allowed me to grow as a photographer and then implement those things once I’ve tried them into my work.

Professional work.

Sabrina: Cool. So you’re using your self portrait projects to play with, like you said, shutter speed or dramatic light or different things before you’re like taking the mastery to your clients and to your sessions.

Angela: Yeah. I mean, I prefer to practice first, so.

Sabrina: I feel like your work is really vast.

Like, there’s a huge variety. I’m telling you, listener, when you go down the rabbit hole of Angela’s self portrait work, it is just, I mean, happy, and moody, and at home, and in public, and big camera, and iPhone, and film, and it’s like, just all, just this You’ve touched on so many different facets of photography.

It’s just absolutely fascinating. I would love to know where your inspiration for an image comes from. Like, how can you, what makes you decide, okay, today I’m out, I’m going to go out in public and it’s going to just be an iPhone snap or I’m getting the camera out and you know, like, where does your inspiration come from?

Angela: Gosh, it varies from day to day and from shot to shot. Sometimes it’s simply, wow, this is a beautiful spot outside. Some of mine I’m in like workout clothes. But the light was pretty and it was a pretty bandage point or something sometimes it’s like, Tommy, you know, like, I’m in a dark place. I need to do something to help pull me out of it, or I’m in a celebratory place and there’s some pretty light.

So, let’s take a self portrait. It really varies for me. It’s just, it’s such like I was saying at the beginning, it’s such an extension of myself, like. A lot of the times I don’t even put a lot of thought into it because I’m just like, I need to do this and I’m going to do it right now.

Sabrina: That makes sense.

I’m curious. I know, because I’ve, you know, we’ve been friends for so long that. You have a ton of self portrait work that’s just truly you, but then you also have a ton with your son. Um, and I know that’s kind of falling by the wayside a little cause he’s getting older and all of that, but it used to be a whole thing.

Was that process something that you always added in to your self portrait work or was it you let that be the focus for a while and, and you used him as like a prop to help you feel more comfortable, so to speak. Cause that’s what I’m like, I’m like, if I have a kid with me, I feel like I could take a photo, you know.

So I’m curious what role your son played in this self portrait work.

Angela: I will say, first and foremost, it is much easier when you do have someone, a child, you know, that that’s easy to love and you don’t even have to like, think about it. That 100 percent makes it so much easier, but I forget the year, but one of my friends, Adria de Cruz started a self portrait.

Like project 52 and I joined and I thought for me, this is going to be with me and my son. His name is Kingston. I just kind of started and I kind of let my own self portraits fall by the wayside for that year. I mean, I think I took a few, but I was determined to get 52. Photos of King and I for a whole year and I did and it was amazing.

And what I learned through that 1st year, because I think we did it for 3 or 4 years, but that has to be quick. So I had to get everything set up. Then call him in, or, you know, if we were out and about, I would have to, like, connect my camera to my phone and all of the things and then be like, okay, so we’re going to take a photo now.

But yeah, it’s just that. Gosh, I miss it so much. Ooh, I might cry. That’s just, those photos are just so insanely important to me. And I hope that when he’s older, he really appreciates those, but yeah.

Sabrina: Yeah. Such a beautiful gift. And I love, you’re so good about like resharing them, like when the memories pop up and stuff.

And I just, I love it. Our kids are getting too big, too fast. Um, it’s ridiculous. Also. For the listeners, I hope you literally, I hope you just heard her say that they did this project for a couple of years, maybe three years, a photo every week. How, how did you come up with that many ideas? That just, that number blows me away.

And that’s just the photos of you and King. That’s not even all of your solo work. I just, I, I can’t, I just am so impressed by how unique and vast your portfolio is. And I just think to myself, how did you come up with that many ideas? How did you keep them all fresh and unique and fun?

Angela: I mean, they’re not all like stellar ideas.

Some of them are simply like, you know, a photo of our faces mashed together or, you know, we’re laying on the bed. Some of them, you know, I’m like drawing is really important to him. So I’ll set him up drawing and then I’ll sit with him or like, you know, a lot of the things are like things that we did frequently.

They were a big part of our lives, like sidewalk chalk, or we had a lot of outdoor adventures. So a lot of them were, you know, super intuitive and like flowed right into our lives with ease and that was helpful and also to make him want to participate because kids can be not cooperative, but I will say he, he was such a good sport about it.

And in fact, recently was like, we should take a photo together. And I was like, oh, my God. Now, have we done it? No, because yeah, I was busy right now, but.

Sabrina: I’m curious. I think I know what you’re going to say to this, and you’re probably going to laugh when I ask this question, but when you were inspired by your friends to do this project and to get a photo a week for a whole year, did you just make the decision and then decide on what that week’s image was going to be like kind of on the fly?

Or did you? Jot down a list of ideas to see if you could come up with 52, like how much planning was involved. Um, how much strategy was involved?

Angela: No, no planning. Yeah.

Sabrina: I figured.

Angela: Yeah. You know me. I figured there wasn’t because if I was going to do it, I’d

Sabrina: be like, do I have 52 ideas? Let me confirm that I can even come up with that many.

I mean, because that’s how you and I are. You’re one side of the coin and I’m the other. Exactly. I want to interrupt this episode to tell you about the round table. This is a community built for female photographers who want to continue growing their business while also forging industry friendships along the way.

In this group, you’ll learn practical ways to move your business forward while finding community and accountability with like minded female photographers. The roundtable consists of three main parts, new live trainings every single month, a growing vault of all the past trainings and of course, the community.

When you join the membership You immediately get access to the growing vault of well over a hundred past trainings. You can go in and search for exactly what you’ve been looking forward to and dive right in. You’ll find trainings like pricing, editing, goal setting, website reviews, social media, behind the scenes videos, and so much more.

You will also gain instant access to our intimate Facebook community. Consider this your space to ask all the things, get all the support and make real life business besties. In addition to the vault and the Facebook group, you’ll get three new trainings or resources. every single month. These include guest experts, live coaching calls, and more.

I really do pride myself in giving you just enough education every month to keep you growing and moving forward while not overwhelming you with content. If you’re ready to join us, you can head over to sabrinagebhart. com backslash membership and enroll today. Now back to the episode. Okay, so I want to make sure that in today’s episode, we cover the mechanics a little bit because for so many photographers, that’s the hang up is like the technical side of getting started with self portraiture.

And again, I’ve tried and failed and I think the awkwardness was the biggest reason for me, but the mechanics were tricky, right? And kind of frustrating, too. So, do you have just a couple tips up your sleeve for somebody who might be starting out with self portraits for the first time?

Angela: If you’re starting out with self portraits for the first time, I’m going to say Start with your phone.

Start with your phone. I take, I mean, I didn’t, well, no, I take that back. I, I have taken plenty with my phone and I did, especially in the beginning. Because it can be intimidating for a multitude of reasons with your camera, you know, either you’re trying to connect to your phone, like, I do, or you’re doing the running back and forth.

So, yeah, I would just say, start with your phone, like, start small, see, and, you know, use that as the warm up, like. Do I even want to do this? Like, then you don’t, you’re not having to like have a buildup where like, Oh, I’m trying to connect and it’s not working. Or, you know, just start with your phone and just do it.

Sabrina: And you correct me if I’m wrong, you use your watch as the trigger, correct? Or do you do like a self timer situation or are you of the team? That’s like, I just put it on video and then I choose a still.

Angela: Um, I, I prefer to use my watch. Um, that’s what I’ve been doing for the last several years. It’s just easier, you know, because then I can see it on my watch face too.

I’m kind of spoiled in that regard, because that’s also kind of similar to how I do with my camera. I can see it on my phone, but self timer works too. Um, I’ve not really used the video method, but that is a great method. There’s also now on your phone, you can do a voice command. Like, you can set a word.

You know, like tilt, type it into, you can, there’s a whole deal I can share it later, but yeah, and I can, I can like shout out self portrait and then my camera app will open up and it will automatically take a few photos. So there’s technology wild now, like

Sabrina: that is really tempting to me. So I, I abandoned my Apple watch like 18 months ago and that makes me want to go back to it For that feature to like play with that.

Maybe that’ll be a Christmas gift to myself this year. And maybe in 2025, I’ll commit to like a phone self portrait project to see if I can get my feet wet. Okay. And then I’m curious since you’re recommending starting with the phone and I know you’ve done a lot on the phone. In fact, this is a funny side note, but, uh, we were just in Seattle together for the retreat and you were the guest educator.

And just a few weeks ago, you shared a self portrait that was taken in our bathroom and I didn’t even know you took it, but I saw that image and I was like. Dang, that’s the bathroom from Seattle.

Angela: Yes. Yeah. I did that in like two minutes.

Sabrina: Love it. I love it. So I’m curious. Do you, as far as like editing the phone images, are there any like apps that you prefer or do you bring it into Lightroom or do you just try and get it right in camera in the phone camera?

What are your thoughts on that?

Angela: Oh, I do like to edit and quite honestly, I’ll be super honest. I’m I’ll just pull it into, how do you say it, VSCO, VSEO, VSCO, you know that old app? Yeah. I just don’t like, it has to be super easy for me and I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time, so I might just do something super simple editing wise, but yeah.

Sabrina: Are you, I mean, I feel like you share a ton of these portraits with the public, right? Do you also have a ton that you have never shared or you like, is it not complete until it has been shared publicly? Like where, what are your thoughts on that?

Angela: Um, I do have a ton that I’ve never shared and, and probably a lot of them will never be shared, you know, just for various reasons, but some of them being nudity, some of them being like, whoa, that’s super raw.

That one is like, Ooh, that one’s just for me. But yeah, I do. I do.

Sabrina: Okay. That’s good to know. Last question. I am super curious. Uh, this is probably for me, but also I’m sure there’s other people listening that are like, Oh my gosh, I’m so inspired. I want to commit to this next year. What would be the tip for just committing to the process?

Would you suggest like, Setting a goal like the 52 thing once a week. Would you suggest choosing some sort of genre like. Take one in public or take one with your child or take, I don’t know, what can help somebody get over the hump and just like start doing the thing.

Angela: Gosh. Yeah. I mean, setting a goal is always helpful and I would say start small.

Like maybe 52 sounds like a large number, you know, maybe you’re going to go with 12. Maybe you’re going to go once a month. I think that’s, that’s a good starting point. And if you are someone that likes a plan, then heck yeah, write out 12. You know, maybe this month you’re going to play with light. Maybe the next month you’re going to play.

With shutter, maybe the next time you’re going to be outdoors, you know, like make it super simple so that you are actually motivated to start because that’s the biggest thing is just to start.

Sabrina: Yeah, I agree. Obviously I’m of the planner type. I feel. not more inspired, but I guess I feel safer about the process if I kind of have an idea of where I think it’s going to go instead of just going out into the unknown.

Um, and so that’s where like making a list or something is really helpful for me and my personality type. So I love that. Okay. Friends, if you are really inspired by this chat, which I’m sure every single person is, Angela has a free guide and it’s called self portrait success. And I would love for you to tell the listeners kind of what this guide is all about.

Angela: Well, self portrait success is a guide that I created after many, many requests. To help people get started, and it is a guide of 3 different of the setups that I use on a regular basis, um, because I find, like, I find that that part is, you know, aside from just getting started 1 of the things that kind of holds people back.

Like, they don’t actually know how. And so I thought, well, I’ll share 3 of the ways that I set up my equipment. and see if that helps people. So that is what I did.

Sabrina: I love that. I love it so much. I love to end every interview with kind of some fun questions so the audience can get to know you a little bit better.

So my friend, I’m curious, what is your current favorite guilty pleasure?

Angela: Oh, reading. Always reading.

Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. Um, I don’t even consider that a guilty pleasure anymore because it’s like just like it is a necessity for me. Right. Yes. Yes. Okay. I love that. Do you have a favorite genre that you always gravitate towards?

Angela: Oh, I mean, I think, I think my favorite genre is memoirs. I’m just truly fascinated to like get to know people on another level. It doesn’t have to be like a famous person. It’s just like people’s stories fascinate me. And so that is, that’s my number one.

Sabrina: Okay. I love that. Um, and that’s so interesting because I generally don’t gravitate towards memoirs.

But when I come across one, or like an article that’s written like one, or just small snippets of that, I love them. So I don’t know why I don’t. I should probably explore that a little bit more. Um, my favorite genre of all time is always historical fiction, and a lot of those are written memoir ish. So, yeah, I don’t know.

Angela: Yeah, you should. I’ve got recommendations.

Sabrina: Okay, you need to send me a message and give me like your top ten, and I’ll start with those. What’s the next vacation you have planned? I know you just came back from one, but what’s the next one coming? Oh,

Angela: um, I’m gonna Colorado in December. Amazing. So I’m excited about that.

Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. Are you guys going to ski or just to get out of town?

Angela: Um, TBD we’re actually going twice in December. Okay. The beginning of December. Um, it’s with my like whole family. And so we’re not sure about like the snow situation right then, but we’re going back right after Christmas and we’ll definitely be skiing.

So, okay. That’s amazing.

Sabrina: I’m curious, what is something that you have up your sleeve for either later this year or in 2025?

Angela: Oh, gosh. Um, up my sleeve is a little mentoring program that I’ll be opening, um, which, yeah, that’s coming soon. Very excited.

Sabrina: I know. And you just said it publicly. So it is coming soon.

I love it. I love it. We’re going to hold her accountable. So listeners, if you are already sold and you’re like ready to work with Angela, you go send her a DM so that you can work with her in 2025. That’s so exciting. I’m, I’m really, really thrilled for you with that. I would love last question. What, uh, business tool or hack are you loving right now?

Angela: A favorite business tool would be imagine AI editing. I it’s just, it’s been a life. Changer for me. So that’s definitely one of them. And then another business hack that I’m also loving is working with you. Did not. Um, but yeah, everybody should know that you’re amazing and you’re super helpful. And. You’ve helped a lot of women and it’s just incredible.

So

Sabrina: wow. Oh my gosh. You’re going to make me cry. Thank you. And I’m, I’m so glad that you have imagine AI in your pocket this year. I know for a lot of years it was. Really a hangup for you because you do such incredible value, volume, um, so many families that you work with. Um, and so I can only imagine how much time that it is saving you this year.

So I love that. I love that. Okay, my friend, this was such a great chat. I know that I am inspired, so I’m sure I’m going to get a load of dms when this episode airs about. How inspired everybody else is. Thank you for being here. Uh, it was great. It was great to chat. And that’s it for today. We will see you next time.

Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode at sabrinagebhart. com backslash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gebhardt photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review until next time, my friends shoot it straight.