Three years of rigorous study in my MFA led me to develop The Fragile Self: a series of tintypes that embodied the dichotomies of my younger self; misery and magic, confinement and freedom, falling in-lust and in-love, criticisms and breakthroughs, rage and relief and last, heartbreak and wholeness. This work echoed the vulnerability of empowering myself for the first time. The results from the pressure gave rise to images that are deeply intimate and delicate.