Self Portrait Shoot

I was meant to be meeting up with my gorgeous friend Stephanie this week, and thought it would be fun to come up with some ideas for a shoot that we could both dress up for and do together. I started by looking through my wardrobe for inspiration, for what might see in a different light that would work in the pictures. I quickly realised I had quite a lot of weird stuff that I never really wear that would be interesting! Sequinned jackets and dresses, and other interesting bits I've picked up cheap in charity shops and vintage stores but not really worn.

I decided to do a bit of mooching online to get some more inspiration… I only just started using Pinterest, and while browsing on someones Board I got linked to an amazing website (The Photography Link) where I discovered a whole load of wonderful fashion shoots that inspired me even more!

I found so many reference images, and the idea for the shoot sort of transformed… I suddenly had a surge of more concepts for our pictures… Don't you love getting new ideas from that creative place inside us! Take a look at my Pintrest board for this shoot here.

Unfortunately on the day we weren't able to get together, but as I was already set up for the shoot and totally in the right state for it, I decided to do it by myself!

It was really different for me because I usually work outdoors (and photograph somebody else) but it was fun to play around and take my time with ideas. I used natural light for the whole shoot.

As I said, the idea for this shoot was originally created with Stephanie in mind… I would never have done this or even had some of these ideas if I hadn't had somebody else in mind who I thought would be perfect for this look.

Most of the clothes I picked out initially didn't even end up getting worn in the shoot, and actually acted as a starting point for inspiration.

I probably would have felt a bit stupid doing all this make-up and posing by myself, but I wouldn't want my model to feel stupid, so why should I let myself think like that?

You never know what ideas could you come up with or comfort zones could you break out of if you let go of the end result sometimes and allowed yourself to let the ideas come to you organically!!

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Christmas :)