Creativity runs through my blood. Everything I do has a creative edge. Sometimes I try to shove that part away and focus on the practical side of things, but my thoughts get the better of me. Now I'm in the midst of a creative revival, especially with this blog.
I'm coming up with new ideas that I hope to bring forward that hopefully makes my content stand out a bit more. But one of the most important creative stances of my content that I'm taking into my hands is the imagery.
I've always been interested in photography, developing it in different ways over the years. This doesn't make me an expert, nor does it make me a master photographer, but it's a passion of mine. I've had one DSLR, a Nikon D3100, since 2011. It needs to be updated, badly but for right now it does the trick. I've photographed for events in high school, I've taken a photography module at uni to further my study, though I'm still not at expert level. But something I do know is how I see images in my head. What I want to get out of my settings and camera. But you can't be in two places at once, which is a real struggle.
I've tried the whole camera-on-tripod-with-a-remote-control, trying to direct myself. That proved unsuccessful. I mean I got images but they weren't my best. So then I started working with my Mum and best friend, Tasha (both photography lovers), to take my images which gave me much better quality. Also they are very understanding of what I wanted. I've also worked with other people, photographers and my friends, who have helped so much. But like everything, change is inevitable and now I want a total different look.
My current style is what I'm now labelling as "honey vibes", where images have a golden vintage glow with attention to detail. I want more stylised, artistic images that tell a story. This is not going to happen overnight obviously, it's developing and I'm trying to find the best way to capture what I like. It's definitely hard to get exactly what you want when you can't be in front and behind the camera. Now I'm no model either and I probably have the hardest time with images of myself. Worst habit - making stupid faces. I don't have a smoulder, a "look at me I'm super serious" vibe because usually I just end up looking like an idiot. I'm a cheesy smiley laughing kind of girl and maybe once or twice I'll get a good serious picture (and even then I will criticise myself), but I'll suck it up and take it because it'll be Instagram worthy.
I feel like sometimes it's the serious ones, the model-esque images that people love. But I can't always achieve this - it's too much to ask of me. I don't look good serious.
Outfit: Dress - Cotton Collection // Belt - Pretty Little Thing // Shorts (underneath because hello this dress is short, it's basically a top) - Zara
With honey tones, I want to combine that rustic Mediterranean feel. It's just a mood that I'm in and that I want reflected on my blog.
The things I'm currently doing to try and achieve this include:
- Finding the right spots for images. It's not always about clean white backgrounds. I want to get creative and add colours that reflect my mood, whilst using what I have around me.
- What I'm wearing right now is a total reflection of my mood, like it is for everyone. I'm constantly in neutrals, white, black and khaki. Whilst I add little pops of colour here and there, this is my main colour palette. And that helps the creative direction that I want to go in.
- Play around with your camera and see what happens. Put it on self timer and see the results. Mess around with the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. If you don't know what any of that means, take some of your free time to read about it and get to know what your camera can really do for you. I'm still learning things and I'm hoping that I can pass that on to whoever I'm working with to take photos so that my vision can be captured through someone else.
- Set up your shots. I tried this with my Mum and whilst I wasn't sure I should be so cut and dry about it, it worked and I've started to get more comfortable with it. Plus, ask the person you're working with what they think because maybe they will see something you don't.
- Just enjoy yourself. Don't beat yourself up when the images don't come out exactly as you picture. It'll take time and you will always find something in your range of images that you like.
It's not impossible to be the creative director in whatever you do. You just have to push yourself with determination, have some patience and work a bit harder to get what you want. So hopefully you'll see a change in my imagery as time moves on, that will be better quality than it was before. But just bare in mind, there may be hiccups along the way with changing scenery and seasons.
Lots of Love,
Emily xx
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