Behind-the-Scenes: How I Prep for a Photoshoot

Wake up.

Get a drink. Take my medications.

Allow myself to wake up slowly–usually through reading or watching a bit of television.

Eat breakfast. Drink more, trying my best to get extra hydrated.

Take a shower, not washing my hair because I washed it the day before. (I like my hair to have some grip the day of a photoshoot).

Slather on a face mask.

While the face mask is hopefully doing something magical to my skin, I talk through my thoughts for the photoshoot with Kris…my husband, my lawyer, my videographer on occasions and my photographer always.

Get my outfits ready, ironing anything that needs it.

Wash off the face mask.

Do my hair and makeup.

Take photos!

This, of course, is the day of the photoshoot. There’s a lot more that goes into my “big” photoshoots, and today I’m going to walk through those details.

Creative Vision and Ideas

I’m a I’ve-got-an-idea-so-let’s-go kinda creative.

I don’t like to sit and stew on something.

If I have an idea for a photoshoot, chances are I’ll make it happen that next weekend.

Last week, I decided that I wanted to do a set of photos with loads of flowers. I had a vision where I’d be holding all of the flowers and then another where we’d hang the flowers from a tree in our yard and I’d be standing among them.

Within a day, my husband had reached out to a local farm to see if they could fulfill the flower order for that upcoming weekend.

Some of my ideas come out halfway formed so I keep them in a list. Some come out at the wrong time. For instance, I currently have some exciting ideas for winter, but I have to wait until…it’s winter.

Ideas often spring into my mind while I’m putting away laundry or taking a shower or painting. And then I try to do them as soon as possible, because I lose the sparks for ideas if I don’t implement right away. Plus, I really enjoy taking an idea from thought to action as quickly as possible.

Props

With the flower photos mentioned above, I decided on a budget and then my husband contacted a local farm that grows beautiful flowers. We told them what we needed (peonies, ranunculus, and greenery) and they got back to us with options (that also included bright-colored poppies).

Often, when I have an idea for a photoshoot, I can quickly decide if it’s a reasonable idea or not. Something that’s going to cost thousands of dollars for a couple social media pics…not reasonable. Something that’s $150 for some beautiful photos I can use on my blog and social media…completely reasonable for where I’m at in my business.

I’ve spent money on lots of different props, on outfits for photos, on decor for my house for photos and videos, and more. Every quarter, I tend to get a couple new things for each colorway I post in.

I believe it’s an expense you’re going to incur if you run the type of business that I do and you want to take your own photos and post regularly.

Photo Prep

For my most recent photoshoot, we hung a bunch of flowers from one of the trees in our yard.

This took some prep. I try to do as much prep as possible before the day of the photoshoot.

I knew we had a ladder, had a couple tree options, and had a few options for things to hang the flowers with.

On the day of and before I got ready, my husband and I picked the tree that worked best for the kind of shots I wanted. We decided to use twine, because it looked the nicest and it gripped onto the flowers.

Before we could hang the flowers, I had to get ready and take the other photos. So, after my hair and makeup was done and we took the first round of photos, we hung the flowers from the tree.

We worked together to hang the twine from the trees…my husband on the ladder and me handing him the cut twine. And, we worked together tying the flowers to the twine…my husband tying flowers to the shortest pieces of twine and me tying flowers to the longest pieces of twine (#shortpeopleproblems).

I ran inside and freshened up my hair and makeup and changed into my dress. Then, we took the photos.

My Husband as My Photographer

I’ve used a professional photographer for business photos twice in the past. Both times, I liked the photos, but they didn’t capture exactly what I was looking for.

When I traveled to Panama to work with Mayi Carles for a little under three weeks, we asked Kris to take as many photos as possible. We wanted a lot of behind-the-scenes photos to share.

We realized as we scrolled through the photos Kris took that we preferred his photos over the professional we hired.

Kris somehow understood exactly what we were looking for.

Every since, I’ve asked Kris to be my photographer when I want photos of myself.

It has led to a couple spousal disputes…mainly because I get uptight when my photo is being taken and I’m really critical of myself. When a vision I’ve had isn’t working, I’ve been known to meltdown every once in a while.

In those moments, I can guarantee Kris wishes I preferred a professional photographer. He just shouldn’t be so good at so many things.

The reasons it works: 1) He’s suuuuuuuuper patient. 2) He takes a lot of photos for me to choose from. 3) He has an eye for photography. 4) He’s learned what I like and what I don’t. 5) If he’s unsure about something, he asks…showing me the photos to see if I like them. 6) He’s happy to be my photographer. It’s one of the ways I involve him in my business and we spend time together. 7) He enjoys being creative and pushing his own creative bounds.

Sometimes I will also show him some photos that I’m inspired by beforehand…it might be the light or the body positioning or the angle I’m digging. I’ll ask him to capture that similar style or try a similar technique.

The main drawback to using my husband as my photographer is that he has his own job. He’s a lawyer. That’s not a low-stress, minimal hours type of job.

We have to work around his schedule to take photos during the week and we often have to plan all of the “big” photoshoots for the weekend. That means working on a Saturday or Sunday when I want to do a photoshoot that’s going to last more than 20 or 30 minutes.

That’s how I prep for my photoshoots. It’s not glamorous or even extensive. The point is that anybody can do this.

If you’ve been shy about setting up your own “big” photoshoot day, go for it. Make it fun! Do something out of the box or something that you’ve always wanted to do.

The worst thing that could happen is you end up with photos that you’re not crazy about. This has happened to me. Compared to other crazy things happening in this world, it’s not that big of a deal. You just try again with a new approach or different idea!