Monthly Reflection: July

July- you’ve been a month worth remembering, shall we dive into why that? :D 

Usually, I would spend my time, focusing on creating, running out to some dark location and shooting a million photos. This month however, I must admit I have done my fair share of that! But I’ve also settled down and worked, like a lot!

Lets talk about the shooting first, because this is a big one: I had my first shoot with a model since February! I was beyond nervous to getting back into shooting with other people again, so much so that I decided to call on one of my best friends to model for me (we worked together on my ‘To The Ones I Love’ series) 

I was so glad me and Via got to shoot together as the overall process was so relaxed and enjoyable. We created so many concepts and looks, some of which really resonated with me. 

We had so much fun, that we ended up shooting again the next day, shooting in my home studio. We went for a more fashion-forward vibe which is something I am still trying to gradually move towards in my work.

If you could see my darkness.

At the start of the year, my partner took me to these beautiful tree roots that were growing on the edge of a public path. I fell in love and new I had to build a concept around them. Recently, I had a couple people in my life ask me why my work is so dark? And whether that reflected me, personally. 

I am learning how I would answer that, believing that darkness is beautiful. I am a very happy person naturally, and because I have joy in my life- I wish to explore the opposite side of life. Alternatively, I have moments of darkness and sadness in my life, so I hope to create inspired by these feelings when they come about, almost documenting that time in my life.

I made the wings that I am wearing out of wire and clear plastic, and shot myself in my living room, photoshopping me onto the roots.

Rain on Me.

I was meant to create this photo in time for the Lady Gaga x Adobe contest, inspired by her song ‘Rain on Me.’ I was so inspired when I first heard this song, looking deeper into the message behind it. I felt so much connection to it that I came up with this concept to work with the song.

I have seen some visuals where people had crystals dripping from the subject to look like rain drops. I ADORE this look and thought it would work perfectly with my style (I have been creating a lot of photos with over-exaggerated tears or water- potentially becoming a series!) 

I made these crystal droplets out of chandelier crystals I bought online, and some invisible thread/cord. I made these on a live stream on my instagram, the first in a series I’m calling ‘Comfy Crafts’ where we can all make things together and chit-chat, this project really helped me find motivation to start crafting my props again and I hope you can join me in my next ones! 

The shooting process of this photo was fun too; I went on a Friday to originally shoot this, to find an absolute flood of people! With my mind conscience of distancing, I turned around and decided to instead try and instead find and shoot the roots for ‘If you could see my darkness’ (above), I felt like I had done the right thing, like my gut was telling me I was where I was meant to be. I felt this way too when I had decided to go back to the waterfall on a quieter day, and first thing. There was hardly anyone about, and I felt peace and readiness, unlike the first time I had tried. I suppose this is a lesson in trusting your gut and following what feels right with you.

I think this is also a lesson in allowing yourself to take your time to work on something that means a lot to you. As much as I would have loved to enter this into the Gaga contest, the timing didn’t work, and I’d much rather hold off creating if it means I can do my idea justice when the time is right. <3