I chose to take a photo of the mirror to represent new beginnings because it tells the story of my first short haircut in 2019. Previously my hair was at shoulder length which caused me a lot of gender dysphoria. When I looked in the mirror after getting the haircut, I finally liked how I looked and felt like a massive weight coming off my shoulders. This represents a new beginning for me because it represents a time in my life when I wasn’t afraid of mirrors anymore and I felt more like myself.
The hardest part was getting the dust on the mirror in focus. In Photoshop, I added a 50% screen layer to bring out some of the details.