Bored Stiff
Sarah Nicole Harvey makes self-portraits in Toronto. She’s been working as a model for a few years—bridal campaigns, beauty shoots, magazine placements, the professional circuit—but the work that actually matters is what she does alone, with her own camera and no one else’s direction.
She made a series called Bored Stiff.
The concept is simple and direct: coffee, cigarette, undressed, tired. She points the camera at herself when she’s feeling restless and bored, documenting that actual feeling instead of performing something better. That’s the whole project.
There’s something honest in it. Most self-portraits you see are people trying to look good—either aspirational or consciously artistic or both. Sarah’s just tired and unwilling to fake anything. The cigarette and coffee aren’t styled props; they’re what you actually do when you’re alone and restless. It’s the only way to photograph yourself that doesn’t look like a performance.
I recognize that energy. Everyone on Instagram looks like they’re having a good time. Everyone in the professional photos is lit perfectly and smiling. The only way to make an image of yourself that feels true is to stop caring if it looks flattering. Document the boredom instead of selling the happiness. That’s the move.