How To Take Good Photos ANYWHERE
WEARING: BABATON MODESTO PANTS | WILFRED PIAF T-SHIRT | URBAN OUTFITTERS WOOL FEDORA | ZARA BASIC SLIDES | RAYBAN SUNNIES
SHOP MY LOOK BELOW
Since I started Fashion Blogging, I always thought I needed to find that Perfect "White Wall" to stand in front of so I could always look Urban, Cool and Effortless, just like my favourite Insta-bloggers do. Turns out, you can't always find that Wall (Jon Snow, back me up here), and it usually made me feel like I couldn't compete. I often run into "Location Block", where I have plans to shoot a look, but nothing seems to look "cool" enough for me. This would lead to frustration where I often would just not shoot anything new at all, and instead wonder how "everyone else" made it look so easy.
I slowly started to realize that not everyone lives in a big city with cool graffiti and baby pink brick walls to hold a charcoal-flavoured ice cream cone in front of, and even if they do, these locations are not always easily accessible. And guess what? That's okay! The point is to get out there and just create. I want to share with you an experience that helped me get over my serious case of "Location Block" and how I learned to take photos ANYWHERE.
I'm into fashion blogging, but I find myself exploring photography more than outfits these days, and am probably focusing my time on improving my photography the most. Given this, I am slowly learning that you have to make due with the surroundings you have and use them to your advantage. Everywhere you look there is a place that's both pretty and interesting to shoot a subject in. If you spend all your time searching for that "Perfect Location", you will miss so many of them that were right in front of you. What I'm learning and what has slowly contributed to my growth is that you just have to learn to see the space you're in and learn to work within it. You will quickly see that your space will start working for you.
Take this look: I wanted to shoot an outfit to share with you. I had no white brick wall.
Instead of huffing and puffing about it and not shooting anything at all because it didn't look "Urban" enough (which I would have in the past), I went across the street in my parents boring old neighbourhood where some boring old construction was underway. If you really looked at it, you may have started to see shapes, leading lines, highlights, shadows and patterns you probably didn't notice at first glance. I used piles of bricks, 2 by 4's, weeds, scaffolding, and a dumpster as my environment, and I love how these photos turned out. Even though I am trying to showcase an outfit and show you what I styled, I've added interest and a story to my lookbook purely by where I shot it. That's when a simple #OOTD can often become something more interesting than just a hashtag OOTD.
So for my fellow photographers, bloggers and content creators, if you are feeling uninspired or inadequate in your surroundings, you don't have to drive an hour to the nearest urban jungle. Just look a little closer right where you are, and start shooting. I think you'll be surprised with what you can come up with.
xx
Christina
PS - My boyfriend thinks I look like Billy Bats in these pants. I personally would rather reference the Good Feathers (any Animaniacs fans here?) over the Good Fellas... but either way I am loving them.
SHOP MY LOOK
