Anatomy of a Styled Photoshoot, Part II

A little more about styling a photo shoot....

Step Four: The props. Props are important. They can be as little as jewelry, as big as buildings. They can be cars, bike tires rims, or just about anything else that helps tell the story. Because the location had such great color and architectural components, I didn't use many extra props other than jewelry and hair pieces, which we switched out several times. I try to match the feel of the location with the props, so when I was browsing through some stores before the shoot, I picked up red and teal flower hair pins, found two awesome "hats", and kept my eye out for jewelry that might work. Wendy has a amazing selection of props, which she kindly brought with her, and we also dug through Ella's jewelry before we left and she brought out some of her wicked shoe collection. For photos, it's generally better to over accessorize -- you might feel a bit out of place but it always looks better in photos to be a little heavy on the accessories rather than light. It gives the photo more depth, more feel.

A few examples of how hair pieces can drastically add to the feel of a photo.

Props don't have to be jewelry...

And finally, The shoot. Really, Ella was just amazing. She was a little nervous to start out, but really relaxed and gave it her all and did beautifully. For those of you who don't know, Ella is my riding instructor. One of the things she has told me over and over, when I'm trying to master something difficult is "You have to want it in your soul." So I turned that back on her for the shoot, telling her that she was going to rock it, but she had to forget that she was Ella, and want it in her soul. And she did!

One of the tips I picked up from the ever brilliant Jasmine Star is to never start with your best location. So we started with a good spot, but not my favorite, until Ella got a bit more comfortable with the modeling and had spent some time with Wendy, too. I tend to pose fairly simply -- I show my model/client what I'm after, then let them adapt it to their style and comfort, making small changes if needed. Because I was going after an edgier, editorial look, some of the poses were not as natural as they would be if I was posing someone for "prettier", softer portraits. But Ella still rocked them, making them hers and adjusting to everything.

All in all, everything exceeded my expectations for this shoot. I had a great time with great friends and came away with some amazing photos. A huge thanks to Ella, Jared, and Wendy! <3 you all!

Anatomy of a Styled Photoshoot, Part I

After all of the wonderful comments I received on Ella's bridal portraits, I thought it might be fun to write up how that shoot came into being.  Because amazing photo shoots don't just happen -- they're made. :)

Step 1: The idea.  I was getting itchy to do something creative, but I wasn't really sure what. When I get in those moods, I look for inspiration in a bunch of different places -- online photography forums and blogs to be sure, but also at the ads and photo shoots in magazines (Vogue, Elle, Glamour). I cut out (or print out) photos that I like parts of -- the hair in this one, make up in that one, dress in another, this pose, that background. And then putting those together, I come up with an idea board for the shoot. This is both a "virtual" (i.e. on my computer) and physical (i.e. photos I cut out, fabrics I like, etc) idea board. I incorporate in colors, textures, anything really that catches my eye like it will fit somewhere. In no way do I a) USE all of these things, or b) copy any one of them directly. They serve as points to jump start my creativity in a (somewhat) organized manner. (Side note here: I am not the only one who comes up with ideas! If you've got something nagging at you that you think would be cool -- even if it sounds silly, that's where most of mine start! -- let me know and we'll see what two creative brains can put together. Nothing is impossible -- we're only limited by the limitations we put on ourselves!) Here are some of the images I was working from:

Step 2: The place. This is sometimes the hardest part of styling a photo shoot. Finding an interesting location that has multiple places to take photos, is accessible, is safe (more about this later), and is reasonably convenient can be difficult. For this shoot, I knew I wanted an urban location. Originally what I really wanted was an old abandoned warehouse that we could shoot inside. I was imagining rusty colors, light filtering in through broken windows, large open areas. I was aiming for photos with a gritty texture, a raw feel. After driving around downtown with Jared for about an hour, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to find what I was looking for in a safe area. Safety is important! You attract a lot of attention walking around with expensive camera equipment and a hot girl in a wedding dress! So I ended up choosing another location, outdoors but still urban with great color and architectural components. It was all withing walking distance of a safe parking lot. If I'm ever uneasy about where I'm shooting, I first run it by my client, then I take my body guard with me (Jared makes a great body guard!). In the process of trying to find a location for this shoot, I stumbled across an amazing location for another shoot (but more on that in the future!) - you never know what you're going to find out there.


Step 3: The people. So the next thing for me, since I was designing this shoot for myself, not for a client, was to find the right people. I had put out a call on my blog and facebook site asking if any local brides might be interested. I got a few responses, but because this is a shoot for me, I was being fairly picky about exactly what I wanted. The great part about the response I got to the call was that I found out who my willing people are, so even if they didn't work out for this shoot I now have a list of guinea pigs models for the next one! I happened to know that my wonderful friend Ella had just gotten married, had a stunning gown, and is quite amazing herself. So I talked to Ella, and with the promise that she didn't have to smile too much, she said yes.... Now because we had planned to do this Thanksgiving weekend (long story short, scheduling these things with more than one or two people is tough), I didn't have a professional available to do hair and make up. But someone was smiling down on us, because I managed to get all of her hair up and looking decent, and between the two of us, her make up looked great! I also invited my friend Wendy along to shoot -- as a photographer, I love shooting with other photographers because it's inspiring and educational... but that's another post!

Okay, this is getting a lot longer than I had planned, so I'll break it off here... Hopefully there aren't too many of you snoring by now! :) Check back later for Part II: The props, the shoot, the fun!

Ella ~ Gainesville Bridal Portrait Photographer

I don't even know what to say about this shoot. Except that it exceeded ALL of my expectations. All of them. I set this shoot up for fun, hopefully to get some portfolio shots, to get some practice working with posing, and to style a shoot from start to finish. Ella, a really good friend of mine and my fabulous horseback riding instructor (those arms? She's earned them!), agreed to model for me. Between the two of us, we got her makeup done and all of her hair up (She has a. LOT. of. hair. Seriously. It goes the whole way down her back.). She provided the awesome shoe assortment (this girl's got some kicks!).  And then we took Jared for a body guard and headed to an urban area in downtown Gainesville for some photos! Wendy joined us downtown and we all had a great time. I'm thrilled with how the photos turned out! <3 Ella, Wendy, and Jared for making the day so fabulous!

This is probably way too may photos for one blog post, but I really couldn't choose.... Enjoy!

RAWR!

Playing with a little bit of sun flare. I'm not great at this yet, so bear with me!

Red shoes!!!

Love the old bike rim Wendy found and strategically placed.

Ella rockin' a wicked hair piece I picked up at a local thrift store.

Love this blue door. LOVE it.

Playing around with the colors.

Again, the shoes!

Wendy shooting. :)

Happy first day of December!

Home Inspiration

I have never been one of those people who has one of those homes. You know, the one you walk into and feel like it's perfectly decorated. Like everything was hand picked to fit perfectly into each room. The ones where the colors are all complementary (or purposely chosen to stand out). My excuse now is that we're in a rental -- can't change the floors, can't paint the walls, and why do I want to buy things that will match this house when I know I'll be moving in the next year or two anyways? But really, that's just an excuse. Even when we owned a house, I wasn't one of those people. Don't get me wrong -- most of the things in my house matched, and went with a general theme if you will, but it wasn't well decorated.

So why am I talking about this? Well, for Thanksgiving, Jared and I visited a friend's house (well, a friend's mother's house) and w.o.w. It was Amazing (that's right -- with a capital "A"). Mrs. C has the quintessential Southern house. It was beautiful! But the thing that impressed me most was that while it was well decorated and extremely well thought out, it was also very livable. It was not a museum -- people lived here (and it didn't hurt that it smelled like a wonderful Thanksgiving meal being cooked....). I could go on and list the things I loved about the house, but that's not really the point of this post. It reminded me of what I want someday, when once again I have my own house. A pretty house, a put-together house, but a livable house. A place where my eventual children can play, a place where my friends always feel welcome, a place where I am always at ease. My place. My home. So I dream. And I keep photos of the things I like. and the things I love. Here's a peak at my dream, in no real particular order:

Someday, I will have floor to ceiling bookshelves...

Maybe ones that look like this, though.

Love this wine rack/cabinet for the kitchen... plus the bonus counter space!

This simple bed from Ikea would look awesome with a darker or splashy bedspread...

And I love this!! How can you resist wanting to look in each of those drawers for treasure???

Steph ~ Gainesville Portrait Photographer

Finally, Steph's photos from our For the Love meetup! I loved Steph's classic look (what girl doesn't love a good black outfit?) and check out those boots!

Steph in a pod!

Deb ~ Gainesville Portrait Photographer

Some photos of the lovely Deb from our For the Love get together!

Love using stairs!

A little architecture? I think so!

So fun!

So what you don't know is that Deb is leaning on an
air conditioner -- you never know where you're going
to find a good background!

Deb in a pod!

Wendy ~ Gainesville Portrait Photographer

Success!! Our first For the Love get together was, um, amazing! Wendy, Deb, Steph and I all met at the Starbucks in downtown Gainesville for some coffee, good friends, and good times! I have to admit, even though it was my first time meeting Deb and Steph, it felt like we were all good friends already. We all fell into chatting about photography, about life, and about fun and before long, we'd drunk our coffee and giggled our way through being on the other side of the camera. Roaming around downtown was great -- there are so many fun places to take photos in such a small area. I'll have posts with everyone's photos, but wanted to start with Wendy's. Wendy has become such a good friend this past year - I don't know what I'd do without her! She's always there to bounce ideas off of, has an infectious smile, and always sees the good (in things, in people, in life!). She's like a ray of sunshine (k... getting a bit sappy here, think I'll finish this off quick-like!). Anyways, here are some of my favorites of Wendy....

You see what I mean about that smile? You're smiling now, aren't you? You just can't help it! (Note: this yellow wall was ah-maz-ing! and matched oh, so perfectly with Wendy's outfit!)

Ooooh, show me some love!

RAWR! :)

Wendy in a pod! Love these pod chairs outside of 101 Downtown...