musings of a melancholic: photography skills

Showing posts with label photography skills. Show all posts

Day Three

Bowie and her friend Ruby

Day Three

Dinner at home with Joel

this recipe

It took this:

and this

and all of these:

Just to get one semi decent photo:

"Happy Fall" this photo was going to say, since both Bowie and I were wearing orange today. But now, I just think the sheer amount of photos to get one was silly.

Nevertheless - HAPPY FALL!

In light of recent struggles with identity and style during pregnancy, I had purchased a rather silly but surprisingly helpful book about how to maintain fashion sense throughout gestation. I have always known how to dress my figure, which is a huge part of style knowledge. I assumed this would stay true during pregnancy, but I forgot that your body is transforming into a totally different shape, and you really need to educate yourself on how to dress that new mutation. A few rules I learned about pregnancy fashion: hold off on buying maternity clothes as long as possible, invest in a few key pieces, GET CREATIVE with accessories, and show off your newest assets (hello mammory's!).

After being inspired to "fight the frump" (which is SO tempting, I might add. And I do not want anyone to feel judged if they wore sweatpants their whole pregnancy, but it just isn't an option for me working and as Candace), I took myself shopping for a few classic items, and made a goal that this week I would put forth a concentrated effort to dress better, knowing that how I dress almost always determines how I feel. These are no by no means the best possible outfits ever, but I felt good about them and consequently uncovered some of my pre-pregnancy self. I also don't want to give the impression that I don't usually think about what I am wearing, because I certainly do. I just determined to fight the self-pity and push myself!

Additionally, I wanted to improve my self-portrait abilities (which I find EXTREMELY challenging as a photographer) and also have determined to set aside my convenient iPhone app and pick up my DSLR more. I also knew this would keep me accountable in my dressing better goals.

Below is the product of my effort as well as an explanation if you want an education in maternity dressing.

For Monday, I chose a bright orange/red blouse from H&M ($20.00) in a size large (I usually wear small shirts) and wore it unbuttoned with a camisole so as to draw the eye to my now lovely cleavage (and more importantly, away from my expanding midsection). I wore a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans with a belly band ($30.00) and an older pair of camel wedges. Earrings, bracelet, and two rings completed the look for me.

Tuesday was a rainy day and I felt the need for a sweater. This is a man's sweater size small from H&M ($15.00). Everything else is from my pre-preggo wardrobe (gotta love super stretchy pants!). I wore a striped shirt in the effort to layer more and chose a blazer to give the look a more structured appeal -which is especially helpful when dressing a bottom-heavy physique such as mine. I wore black on bottom with heeled-boots to elongate my bottom half (I usually wear these boots over-the-knee, but knew I would be wearing them later this week and wanted to give the impression of variety. This is a universal fashion rule: You don't need a lot of things, just don't wear the same items the same way twice). Dual necklaces (though not visible in this photo), petite turquoise studs, and two rings completed the look.

I woke up in a bad mood on Wednesday, so I feel particularly good for pulling this outfit off. The tunic is a size larger than I usually wear and stretchy (H&M $10.00 on sale). I had to wear the belly band again today, but wore long white tank under the tunic to hide it. Here, I am focusing on proportion. If wearing something flowy and bigger on top, wear skinny jeans or leggings. I am addicted to cuffing my jeans for that extra attention to detail and to show off my booties. (Side-note about shoe wear. The book said that heels are a MUST for pregnant bodies, and while I don't imagine I'll be able to do this very long, it's actually really helped in how I carry myself. Also, all of my heels are comfortable and stacked (fuck the stiletto, not only are they uncomfortable and impractical, they make the preggo body look comical in comparison to that skinny heel.) I broke up the vast expanse of white with a big statement-getting necklace and dangly earrings (hard to see here). This outfit completely improved my mood.

I've had this dress for a few months now (Forever21 $20.00) and only just thought to wear it. It's a larger size than I usually wear, but the book talked about belts being the preggos best friend. Your upper belly is the narrowest part of your body right now, so it should be accentuated. I felt a bit Sunday school-ish in this dress, so adding the irreverent blue tights and booties really helped me feel more edgy. Cardigans are a must - but they HAVE to fit well - during pregnancy for hiding that expanding back-side. This dress is low-cut, so it helped draw attention to my bosoms (appropriately so, I still had to go to work after all). Also, the book recommends wearing patterns...which I find hard to buy. I felt pretty good in this all day. I added a pair of blue mod-ish earrings to tie in the tights and help me feel young despite my hair being pulled into a french twist.

I didn't have to work today, and was saving this outfit for a social outing (if going to work, I probably would have paired with black skinny jeans and my Prada flats). I picked up this tunic at H&M ($15.00) and love it. It's super stretchy and comfortable. The book talks about wearing short things during pregnancy and I tend to have a hard time with that in general, but with black opaque tights and boots that cover most of my leg, I felt pretty snazzy going to brunch with Jess at our favorite French bistro. Since it's such a loud pattern, I tried to have messy hair in order to unfussy the look. I added a pair of industrial-looking dangly earrings to toughen up the sweetness, and added my favorite bright coral lipstick to add a trendy feel to a classic cut/pattern of a dress.

After such an intense week of thinking about what to wear and photographing it, I am looking forward to a weekend of pajamas! Here's to fighting the frump, and embracing it when you need to!

I've known Emily via flickr and blogger (and her other blog) and facebook for several years now. She and Kelly used to ride together, and oh the stories I've heard! Emily is so spunky and has and an undying commitment to family and her passionate causes. She's impossibly fun to be around (as well as a bit of a ham, which actually helps a lot in wedding shoots!).

When she contacted me last year about shooting her wedding, I had to reminder her that I had 1) never shot a wedding by myself before and 2) am not a professional photographer. She assured me that she had been an admirer of my work for a while and was looking for interesting, photo-journalistic photographs. She wanted to pay me to shoot the wedding (she's a stanch supporter of her artist community) instead of working with a complete stranger. I consulted Kelly (my artist guru) and Joel and after several back and forths, I decided to go forward. We agreed on the terms, and there was naught to do but wait for the big day.

For the next 10 months, I spent several hours of several days pouring over how to pose weddings, asking any and everyone for advise, researching equipment, buying equipment, testing equipment, practicing on friends, post-processing, and working on my anxiety level. Nerves took over several of those days and I wanted to bow out at least 25 times. However, I instead reassured myself that Emily was the one who sought me out and had already seen my work and loved it. I was immensely nervous the week before the wedding, and way over-prepared in terms of lists and sample shots (funnily enough, I completely lost those lists in the moment and had to wing it). I completely dreaded the exhaustion and the inevitable awkwardness of my introverted self trying to tell people where to stand and how to act. Once the day arrived and I had Kelly in my back pocket shooting 2nd, I daresay I actually had a good time.

Though I am an introvert, I am quite well-practiced at commanding large groups of people (ex high school English teacher here). I had completely misplaced this information, and thought I would stumble all over myself. I imagined the worst, but it ended up not being a problem whatsoever. In fact, there was a point in the reception where Kelly was looking around for me and to her surprise (and mine) found me schmoozing all the tables, going to each one and snapping away. She teased me about it when I sat down to eat, but in the end - we both were proud of me for embracing something I seriously doubted I had the ability to do.

Human personalities are so multifaceted! I very rarely take the opportunity to express parts of mine that don't feel as natural and comfortable as others...or too often let those around me dictate my personality. There is a fine line between adapting to people and repressing oneself for the group's sake. I learned that even I can surprise my own self!

Forsooth, we are capable of SO MUCH MORE than we give ourselves credit for.

I don't see wedding photographer in my future, but if I ever did - I would hire Kelly and we would rock the business. For now, I am happy to keep it low-key for friends and family.

So happy to finally share the finished product of Emily and Scott's wedding. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks so much to Emily for giving me this boost of confidence and for being fabulously easy to work with. Though I know too little of their courtship, I do know that they are blindingly in love and represent each other's renewed hope in the future.

I just HAVE to share Kelly's contributions too.

I think it's some of the best photography I have EVER seen...