Since I already posted these photos on Instagram (and have since temporarily deactivated my account for personal reasons lol) I wanted to do a more in-depth post describing my general creative process that I use to come up with ideas for shoots! Kind of a behind-the scenes look into my mind hehe.
First, I have to have inspiration. Inspiration isn't something that you can force, but you CAN help it along in a few ways. There are a lot of things that inspire me but a few things I pay particular attention to when I'm in a creative rut are movies/tv and Pinterest. I wouldn't call myself a film connoisseur or anything, but I love watching movies that move me with compelling stories or strong aesthetics, and the same goes for TV shows. Basically, when I direct shoots I want to tell a story, and sometimes those stories are adapted from the media I consume regularly. For the Prom shoot I literally tried to incorporate every high school stereotype from movies like Breakfast Club or Carrie, and I had a direction I wanted the shoot to flow in which reflected the narrative I was running in my head. As for Pinterest, I find that its the best way to get inspired by other peoples' work. I have boards for hair and makeup and for photography or just things that interest me, and these visuals help me define and experiment with different aspects I want to incorporate in a shoot.
Once I come up with story I want to convey, I typically look for a setting that can be adjusted to suit my vision whether that be a blank wall, a white sheet, or an abandoned building. Then I do what I like to call set design lol and I create opportunities to interact with furniture or the space. Lighting is also important, but I mostly rely on natural light because I don't have any equipment lol. I would love to have a camera of my own one day, but for right now it would be silly to invest hundreds of dollars in equipment that I don't know how to operate, so I use my iPhone camera (its good enough for Instagram pls don't come for me I don't claim to be a photographer) and I have to prop it up to use the self timer lmao.
For hair and makeup, I use whatever I can even find. I use lipstick on every part of the face bc lipstick is the best makeup product ever and no one can convince me otherwise. Every time I do a makeup look I just kinda start with a vague idea of what I want and then I figure out what I'm doing along the way! Sometimes I do plan though, and I make bad sketches in my sketchbook to collect my thoughts and see if something I'm thinking about even looks good on paper. Same thing for hair, but I LOVE a good teased out rat's nest (sorry to all of my models who's hair I've temporarily ruined).
I almost didn't make this post because I don't want anyone to think that I'm trying to be a photographer or trying to give advice to those of my friends who actually ARE photographers. I'm in the process of learning about a lot of different art mediums which is so exciting because I want to know everything I can about the things I like, but I'm also very hard on myself for not already being good at the things I wish I was good at. I have to remind myself that I am a beginner right now in a lot of things, but that doesn't mean I can't invite people to enjoy what I put effort into! I also want to say that I am inspired by so many of my friends who are way better than me at a lot of things because they've put years of time and energy into learning skills that I'm just now getting into. So anyway, now that I've outlined my process I'll dump a few photos that you've already seen, so enjoy!
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