Self Portrait

Christina freeman | UNITED states

TITLE:

Transformation

GEAR:

Nikon D750 and Nikon Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8

I received my diagnosis for triple negative breast cancer the first week of 2022. I had already started my treatments at this point, but this is the image that will forever be engrained in my mind as the moment that divided my life into two--my life before cancer, and this moment, gazing at myself in the mirror at my new reflection, coming face to face with a reality and future that I hadn't seen coming. I had just gotten my hair dyed pink and blue--something I had talked about doing for years but had never had the guts to do. Now I had finally taken the plunge, yet here it was, lying scattered all around me on the floor. In so many ways, it felt like it represented so much of what I was feeling in that moment. Cancer was never supposed to be a part of my story--it took all of my plans and seemed to scatter them in an instant. But even so, I can remember feeling a calm when I saw myself in that moment. It was not the reflection that I had ever expected to be looking back at me. But it was still me, stripped down to my very core. And for that moment, it was enough.