Carry on Beautiful!

I’ve been a big fashion lover since my early teen years, but it’s only recently I’ve shared fashion focused pictures. The biggest thing that was stopping me was the photography side of things. What camera do I use? How do I pose? Who do I force to take them for me? Sometimes the main thing stopping us from doing something is just that we don’t know how to start, so I’m here to help with that!

It turns out things get a lot easier when you stop over thinking them! If you’ve got a phone, you’ve got a camera with a timer. I use my phone, with the screen literally taped back together, to take all of my pictures, and though they may not be perfect, they tend to come out how I wanted them to! Most phones these days have impressively good cameras, they’re right there in our pockets waiting to be utilised.

You’ve figured out that you’ll just use the camera on your phone with a timer, the next step is finding the right place to take some pictures. I look for places where I’ll be able to prop up my phone at around waist height, with it facing something interesting to act as my back drop. Sometimes those places just aren’t there. You either have to improvise with how the shot is framed, which can give you something awesome that you’d never have thought of doing otherwise, get someone to take it for you or create your own place to prop your phone up.

If I’m taking pictures around the house I have a small cupboard that I move around to get the shot I want. In work I use video tapes and our moveable shelving units. Out and about, that’s more difficult to do. I’m hoping to buy or make a tripod that will hold my phone soon, so I’m less restricted with where I’m able to take pictures.

Finally, posing. You’ll find a thousand posing tips online to make you look thinner or taller or whatever, and I ignore the whole lot of them. I try to stay mostly natural for most shots, I slouch and frown and just act like I do in general because I’d rather be ‘bad’ at posing but be myself than look ‘skinny’ or try to be a model.

The more you pose and take pictures, the more used to it you get. You’ll know what angles and poses both fit you and your style, and still make you look ‘good’ in whatever way you interpret that to be. Especially for fashion photography the most important thing is that the outfit is shown well, and as a blogger who mostly shares these pictures on Instagram I also place a lot of importance on my pictures have a bit of personality and fun to them.

Work on finding what’s right for you, taking pictures in this way can be challenging and difficult but you should be finding it fun too. Fashion should always be enjoyable and personal. Make what you wear and the pictures you take yours, and you’ll be well on your way to creating pictures you can be proud of and happy with.

-Dana