There does not need to be an occasion to have a portrait of yourself.
Some women come to mark a birthday.
Some come after a change in their lives.
Some have spent years being the person taking the photographs, rather than appearing in them.
And some simply reach a point when they want a portrait of themselves.
My women’s portraits are made in my Johannesburg studio, usually against a black background and with very little else in the frame.
The woman is the photograph.
Wanting the photograph is reason enough.
There is a peculiar idea that being photographed means becoming a different version of yourself.
More glamorous.
More confident.
More comfortable in front of a camera.
You do not need any of those things.
The women in this gallery arrived as themselves.
Some were comfortable immediately. Some were nervous. Many told me they did not know what to do in front of a camera.
That does not matter.
A portrait does not need you to perform for it.
It needs to look like you.
I was always afraid of what the mirror would reveal. This shoot was necessary for me.Shamillah Wilson
Women are often very good at making sure everyone else is photographed.
Their children.
Their partners.
Their parents.
Their families.
Years can pass with hundreds of photographs of the people they love and remarkably few photographs of themselves.
And when they do appear, it is often at the edge of a phone photograph or because somebody remembered to hand the camera to someone else.
A portrait is different.
For once, you are not organising the photograph or making sure everyone else is in it.
You are in it.
You belong in your photographs too.
Being photographed reminds me to live in the moment — and remove the shackles of things that hold me back.
Donna Msiska
I have photographed women in their twenties, forties, sixties and beyond.
At the time, a portrait records how someone looks.
Years later, it holds much more than that.
The face you had.
The way you wore your hair.
The hands you recognise.
The person your children remember.
Things that seem ordinary now have a habit of becoming important later.
A photograph keeps those details without knowing which ones will eventually matter.
Women Don’t Need a Month
A reflection on women, photographs and why being visible should not need an occasion.
If you would like to know how I photograph women, what happens in the studio, what to wear and how the portrait collections work, you can read about the full experience.
JOHANNESBURG PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER
One Moment. One Portrait. Forever
© 2005–2026 Bridget Corke Photography
Blairgowrie · Johannesburg · South Africa
International Master's in Portrait Photography
One of only two in Africa.