Monthly Reflection: January

This month has been a nice stepping stone into 2020, I do a yearly project where I either create a photo a day for 5 days in the run up to Christmas, or the same, but from New Years day. This year I decided to do the latter and created 5 self portraits that I feel captured where I was on each day. I have never done this project in this way, I usually work with similar colours or looks, and almost create what I felt like creating on that date, but never how I felt on that date. It was actually a really refreshing way of thinking and creating, something I may try again in the future. This meant I didn’t have to think about what would look good as much, but making sure I captured how I felt on that day, like a diary entry.

on the 5th, myself, Nicole my MUA and a model that had contacted me online decided to do a shoot together, it would be my first shoot with a model of the year. Because Elladora the model was in London, we decided to meet halfway so myself and Nicole Met Elladora at ‘A Scorpion Residence’ in Kettering. A beautifully light and spacious studio. Its very rare I ever shoot in a studio, but because I didn’t know the area, and we weren’t sure on weather conditions, it made more sense to work in a studio. Plus myself and the model had colds so being inside all day was waaay nicer than being outside all day! We shot some really alternative and dark photos that will hopefully benefit the model and MUA’s portfolios, which is what I am always about! 

Although I didn’t shoot them this month, I shared some dedications to one of my heroes: David Bowie. I usually like to pay respect to him on the anniversary of his death, usually writing some words to share my love for him. This year I decided to create a couple photos in dedication to him, I was reluctant to do this at fist as I wanted to make sure I did him justice, but I decided to carry on and myself and Nicole decided to take inspiration from one of my favourite eras on his: Ziggy Stardust and create a look based on his iconic makeup and overall look. It felt so rewarding to create  photos that were visually inspired by Bowie, rather than thematically which I have done in the past. I only hope that I could do him justice in my small way. 

I had then gone to the peaks and for some general gallivanting around, both to create and explore with my love. It was super foggy so we wanted to make the most of it and create some darker images with a pop of red! Those photos aren’t ready to share but they will be out soon! And that was pretty much all I did in terms of shooting! I spent most of this month finding oh-so much inspiration, scrolling through Pinterest and inspiring Instagram accounts to search for some fresh inspirations. I found lots! Too much to handel if anything! So I am taking my time harassing this newly found inspiration and seeing how I can apply it to my work. I am super excited to execute some more elaborate set ups with some new models, new locations and maybe even some designers! Its early days on where I want to navigate this wave of inspiration, but I have a billion ideas flooding my head that I am trying to desifer and see how I can bring them to a reality.  

So the start of the year has been calm in creating, shooting only when it felt right and not rushing anything. Separate from the camera sides of photography, I have been working on my marketing way more- something I am very reluctant and usually un-inspired to pursue. But this year I want to push my marketing skills and engage with people that would otherwise not see my work, hoping for more work with clients and people that match my business plan. This month has been a lot of working behind the computer, batch-writing blog posts to share every Monday for the year of 2020 and contacting potential galleries and clients, finding work for myself- something I get terrified to do. I have now turned that fear into exhilaration- a burning fire, ignited to do amazing things. Lets see where it takes me! <3