Almost like a real professional photo shoot - part 1

It would be a fair thing to say that I love photography and videography, both in an active way as well as in the sense of the subject being captured. In the digital sense that is... not the creepy stalker driving a van with tinted windows kind of way!

It would also be a fair thing to say there are hints of narcissism and vanity present in me.. especially when I'm all dressed up,.. but a little bit of this is not a really bad thing, I hope? Yes.. I do look in every mirror when I'm shopping in stores and I do try get glimpses of my reflections in the store windows, but (and please do say so if I'm wrong),.. I don't act like a spoilt princess. :-P

Considering all of this, it then comes as no suprise that I love a photoshoot.. and what I love even more is when it's a photoshoot that in terms of photographer skills, guidance and equipment almost approaches that of a professional setting. Last week, I was lucky enough to have myself photographed by a good friend who is a) good with cameras & equipment b) good with editing software.. and most importantly c) a dresser.. thus familiar with all the challenges of capturing the femininity.

It was a very sunny day and again, I wanted to stay away from the true-and-tried darkish black, grey, brown colours. We did three outfits that afternoon (the second outfit being a cross-over between the first and the third one). And this is the first outfit, as you can see.. quite colourful and happy: a pair of lightblue skinny jeans, a pink top and white cream jacket. Nothing too special, but it doesn't need to be that all the time, right?

Besides the photographer and me, there was another person present during the shoot.. and she was not just there for moral support. She also moved around with a separate flash.. giving me that extra needed light.. which perhaps counter-intuitively is more the case on a bright sunny. She and I were following the photographer's orders to the letter and I must say, occasionally.. that's very nice when doing a shoot.

We didn't do any video filming that afternoon, because of course.. that would also have to be done in a semi-professional way. And that would've meant a much longer session with lots more work. Hopefully, we'll get to that in the near future!

For now, I just wanted to thank my photographer and partner for a wonderful day! :-D

The post with the second and third outfit will follow soon, but I might mix it up with other stuff. Stay tuned!

Casual in the sun - red jeans, black high heeled boots

So, for some (both women *and* man), dresses are the epitome of femininity and when I was younger (and arguably a bit more stupid) I agreed wholeheartedly! Nowadays, I'm a bit more flexible in my ideas on women's clothing.. and on stuff in general!

During the last few years, I have been observing what fashionable women have been wearing other than pretty dresses and I have grown to genuinely love the simple skinny jeans + top combination. Of course, in my case, the outfit should always include heels... because it's me we're talking about.. and I'm pretty much incorrigible when it comes to heels.

Seeing as the obvious choice for jeans would be something in a blue-ish colour, I decided to try something different.. red.. because apparently, I have a thing for primary colours.

Also, I'm quite the lazy type, so I added a white top which according to Glamour Magazine is one of the "10 Wardrobe Essentials Every Woman Should Own". You can Google the webpage yourself, because they shamelessly turned this list into a 60-page slideshow. I understand that they want to earn some ad revenue.. but this is ridiculous.

Another thing I would never have thought about 10 years ago is wearing a cardigan. I think it says something about my evolved dressing mentality that all my 5 cardigans were acquired in the last 18 months. And coincidentally, a black cardigan is also on Glamour Magazine's list.. just putting it out there! ;-)

As always, there is a video of me wearing the outfit, but it's a rather short one... because despite the sunny rays, it was quite windy and rather cold! So, after shooting a bit of video.. we quickly focused on shooting pictures. Unfortunately, because the car was nice and warm, shooting more video footage of this casual jeans/top outfit was quickly forgotten. I hope I can be forgiven for that,.. next time I'll try to get more.