Let’s Sit and Watch This Burning Star

Notes from my daily photography experiments #13

Photography by author, Reylia Slaby

Rarely these days do I find myself shooting my own portrait, especially in the nude. With help, I was able to take this image. A simple photo that was accomplished with a cheap light that transformed my body into a canvas for a thousand electrical stars. In looking at the final shot, I felt transported back to humanity's cosmic origins. The stardust that exists within us innately.

Despite this image being quite demure compared to quite a few other things exhibited on the internet, there is always a hum of apprehension there.

I have not been taking care of myself and compounded by a plethora of recent physical stresses, I have not been doing the physical upkeep that is necessary for regulating my mood and sustaining a healthy figure.

I feel that somehow, my body has become laden with a war against itself. And yet, I document, and fervently hope that in its chronicling, I can inspire a truce between my physical and mental state of being.

Both, I feel are necessary for this ceasefire. Esteeming the power of self-critique, while simultaneously holding fast to self-adoration. To bring a poise into your imperfections, and speaking love into the parts of yourself you wish didn’t exist.