This portrait was taken at a time when my relationship to stillness was changing.
There had been a long season before this — captured in earlier work where my gaze was lowered, turned inward — when introspection meant retreating almost completely. I was searching, processing, trying to understand what I felt before allowing myself to move forward. That version of me carried depth, but also weight.
Presence marks a different posture. The thoughtfulness is still there, but it’s no longer folded in on itself. The gaze lifts. There’s more light, more colour, more space. I wasn’t trying to solve myself in this moment. I was beginning to trust that I could look outward again without losing that inner connection. Reflection had shifted into awareness. Stillness had softened into openness.
Looking back, this image feels like a quiet reorientation. Not a dramatic reinvention, just a gentle lifting of the head. A moment where I realised I didn’t have to live inside the dark to honour what I’d learned there. I could carry that depth with me, and still choose to face the light.