Valentine’s Day Photoshoot
When your creative outlet becomes your career, one can easily push parts of one’s creative voice to the backseat while dreaming up art for other people. I certainly wouldn’t trade my business, but several creative mentors reminded me lately that it’s good to take the time to make low-pressure art for yourself. So that’s something I’m planning to carve out more time for this year. I’m kicking off that goal with this fun Valentine’s Day photoshoot with my girls.
My husband took my girls on an “adventure” to Trader Joes the weekend before Valentine’s Day while I photographed a session. I asked him to pick out a variety of flowers while there (and gave him a loose color scheme). I’m super impressed by the Trader Joe’s floral selection and my husband did a great job. He brought home 4 bouquets (so around 40 individual flowers).
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The Construction
I’ve never made a flower wall before. I settled on a strategy of using a large needle to sew fishing line through the flower stems, tying a knot or two around each stem. It worked quite well! I then tied the lines the lines from an extra backdrop stand I own. My daughters were very interested in the process. My oldest daughter Caroline wielded the scissors for me, snipping stems and string. When it all started coming together, she said, “It looks like a flower waterfall!” (I often think about the memories they will have of me and my crazy photography ideas. I hope they will look back on them with fondness. Even more so, I hope feel empowered to experiment and try out artistic ideas of their own!) I set up a smaller stand behind the flower to hold my white seamless paper.
I set this whole thing up in our small office. It was tight, but we made it work. If you’re at all familiar with my work, you know that I am a huge fan of using flash for indoor photography work. I love how consistent it make the lighting. You can truly craft the look that you want. This shoot was no different. I set up two off camera flashes for these photos. To learn more about my process for off camera flash, click here.
The Results
Overall, I loved how it turned out! My daughters were certainly enchanted. This helped with their participation during our little photoshoot. (If you know you know.) After the photos, I took down the flowers and my daughters enjoyed constructing their own little arrangements. Now our downstairs is filled with lovely flowers! If you’re a photographer, give this Valentine’s Day photoshoot theme a try. Let me know how it goes in the comments section below! If you’re a Chattanooga local and want to create some photography magic with me, let’s connect!
