How I shot my self portrait - in honor of my son Matthew

This is going to be pretty emotional to write. I lost my baby boy Matthew in September. He was born extremely premature and died after a hard 50 days fight in the hospital. I miss him every second of every day, I think about him all the time and I pray for him to come to me in my dreams every single night.

I decided to create something in his honor for my Female Character assignment in my Portrait class. At first I wanted to do something with one of the outfits we had for him but I wasn't sure how and I couldn't get the image I wanted so I started playing with the mirror, the M necklace that I have and the NICU bracelet that I still can't part with...

I must say mirror angles are not easy, self portraits are hard enough but when you add a corner in a mirror and you have to be exactly placed in there, well that's another story and a few more shots...

On the 6 months anniversary of his death I cut my hair and donated it to Locks of Love. I was so happy to receive the Certificate, they are very picky about hair they accept and I was afraid that mine wasn't good enough. I cut 11.5 inches off. I get highlights on my hair so I could only use the bottom untreated uncolored portion. I hope it will help some sweet child somewhere in the world...

For my image I had my friend take a photo of my long hair from the back and then took my own photo in the mirror with my short hair. I replaced the back part of myself with the long hair picture and placed my hand in a way that my bracelet would be visible.

I must say that I love this picture, it means a lot to me. My son will forever be in my heart and I will do and create many other things in his name. I love you, Maddy, I will love you forever and ever!