I hadn’t done a test shoot in forever. It made me sad, because they are my favourite kinds of shoots. They are the shoots that I am free to experiment, do as my heart desires, a total failure would be absolutely okay because no one’s money or expectations would be on the line.  Unfortunately here in Tampa I don’t have my regular team to work with, since they are all back in England. Admittedly being in a new place has thrown me for much more of a shock than I thought it would. When I’m back in England I do get nervous before shoots, but I’m so accustomed to my surroundings and the people that I find deep comfort in them. Here in Tampa I have never done a shoot before, so I found myself incredibly nervous even in the organisational process of it all. I was trying to put together a photo shoot, but found myself with no contacts to go from, no where to start. It reminded me of the very first time I ever organised a shoot in England. I forgot how hard it can be to be new and to put yourself out there when no one knows or cares who you are. It is so important to organise personal shoots, though, that you can never let these trepidations stop you. At the beginning it’s all about conquering that fear of not really knowing where to start. At the end it’s all about meeting new people, creating something beautiful together, and walking away with gorgeous images that you can be incredibly proud of and know that your network is now just a little bit bigger :).

So, as I said, I brainstormed this beautiful idea in my head of a shoot that I really wanted to bring to life. The only problem was finding a team to help me put it together. A make up artist, hair stylist, model and someone to take charge of the wardrobe. I got in touch with a variety of people through Model Mayhem, but it never worked out. Two weeks went by. Each week there was a shoot planned for the weekend. And each weekend the model had cancelled last minute. Not cool.

As much as I’d love to blame it on others I realised that I needed to take control of the situation. The first thing was to get in touch with a different model who would (hopefully) be much more reliable. The second thing was to set it up so that it would be a test shoot, just the two of us getting together to shoot. This way I would get to know the model, she would get to know me, and I could figure out our “chemistry” together while shooting. My grand plan? After judging her capabilities as a model and our chemistry, I would decide whether or not she was “the one” for the actual creative shoot I had planned in my head.

And so, I was nervous to meet her, I was nervous to photograph her, and I was nervous to be in the city surroundings. I was nervous in general. Obviously, as soon as the time came the nerves faded away and were immediately replaced by pure excitement for the shoot. She showed me all of the clothes and shoes she had brought in her suitcase. I chose the few looks which I thought matched my style, and we went from there.

I’m staying in an apartment building, and decided to do the shoot directly in the surrounding areas – which, surprise surprise, are even more apartment buildings, busy roads, etc.. And even while buried in the city I found myself gravitating to the small areas of greenery that there were. There is something within me that is so moved by nature, and I feel like it’s such a huge part of my style and creative process – so much so that I never even noticed it.

I took the following two photographs on the front step of an abandoned store, next to a small patch of grass. I took many photos that day, but these two are my favourites. And they seem to stand out alone in my head, like a whole separate shoot. They simply don’t match the rest of the photos we took that day, hence why I’m publishing them alone. I adore the emotion expressed, the colours captured, the femininity, the softness. To me, they are perfection, and I love them.

Beth was beautiful and so comfortable and confident in front of the camera, which I really enjoyed. I honestly can’t wait to work with her again and I have already started my plans for what shoot would work best with her look :).

I’m so happy to have the opportunity to share these with you today:

Both of these photos were edited with a mixture of actions from the brand new action set, THE CONFIDENCE COLLECTION. Make these actions yours today here.

YOU:

Do you have an idea of a shoot that you would like to bring to life? Something that is personal and just for your enjoyment as an artist? Have you organised it? What difficulties have you gone through with it? Tell me about it. <3