It’s that time of the year when I start to see comments popping up on instagram photos asking “Aren’t you cold in that??” The truth is, usually YES! I was thinking about it the other day as I was gearing up to shoot on a snow day outside on my front stoop – I usually don’t show that side of the blog, and I couldn’t decide if it would be a dose of honesty to open up and talk about it, or if it would ruin the magic that goes into the creation of pretty photography, which I see as a curated art form, in many ways. But ultimately I decided to talk about it, and to share a bit more about how much the weather actually comes in to play in these blog photoshoots, and also to just say that photos in big puffy coats are not pretty! In my opinion at least! This is, and always has been a fashion blog, and in rain, shine, snow or 90 degree heat, I will always put fashion first in my photos. It’s what I love, it’s my passion, and I have unfortunately (or fortunately) froze my ass off more times than I am proud of to get the shot.
So I guess a good starting point is talking about the weather and photography. I am not sure how many of you out there reading this have photography experience, but when it comes to shooting photos, a lot can go wrong. It’s more likely than not that on a day a photoshoot is planned, the sun may be too direct and sunny creating harsh shadows, it could be raining, it could be very cold or very hot, or worse than them all, it could be WINDY. Here’s some examples of some of my least favorite photoshoot memories that were all thanks to weather incidents in the past year or so:
I guess that brings me to my next point, which is that fashion and the weather don’t always see eye to eye! A lot of the time, I am hired by brands to shoot Fall content when it is still 80 degrees outside, and I will have to sweat through it. On the flip side, I’ll begin to book Spring jobs at the end of Winter, and I have DEFINITELY taken photos of sandals when there’s snow still on the ground. Sometimes, if there’s a deadline approaching quickly, in this job we just have to suck it up, and make SOMETHING work. Say what you want, but influencers are scrappy, determined and we basically deal with the hand we’re dealt a lot of the time.
All that being said, I like to look at it like this – for a few minutes of suffering in the cold or the heat, I am able to snap photos that I love, and continue to do THIS for work. I feel super lucky!! I also have a styling compulsion, so for me if the styling is off in an image, or if something realllly small about it bothers me (we’re talking a hair out of place, a glare on the lens, high waisted pants not being pulled up and other REALLY petty and small things that can make or break the styling of a photo) I will want to continue to suffer through intense weather to get the job done to the best of my capability. I’m not sure if that makes me a driven psychopath, or just like the rest of you who want to perform your job to the best of your abilities. I know this became a pretty long rambling session, but I wanted to open up a bit about some of the realities behind the scenes, not because I want pity, but just to pull back the curtain a little bit! It can be really fun and bonding freezing your ass off with someone to get the shot! But don’t discount the amount of patience it takes a lot of the time for both a blogger (Who usually take a lot of heat) and for the photographer! If it wasn’t for my amazing and patient assistants Danielle (last year) and Sea (current) understanding the creative vision, and patiently working together to achieve it, I don’t know where I’d be!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments – Would you suffer in extreme temperatures for a photo?