Outtakes

thrifted 60s cardigan and crop top // 90s denim skirt // vintage Ferragamo flats

Here are some outtakes from a little guest post I did over at the Hummingbird Girls blog. I was nervous about delivering a quality product and took way too many photos, felt super ugly for no reason, nearly cried out of frustration, took a break to get coffee, and then everything turned out just fine.

My blog-picture-taking process is pretty organic; if I feel cute that day, I'll take some photos. Sometimes I realize that I haven't posted in weeks and think maybe I should brush my teeth today... and take blog photos. But having do it for someone else just, I don't know, flipped some switch in my brain and cranked the neuroses up to 11. I can't imagine the pressure of actually getting paid to do this. Oh my god these suck, my camera is a piece of shit, why did I think I could get away with wearing a crop top, yadda yadda yadda, I'm going to eat this fern. 

If you can mentally place yourself outside of the situation, even just for second, the sheer absurdity of it is enough to laugh, shake your head, and wrap it up. Make no mistake, being comfortable in front of a camera is totally a skill and there's no real shortcuts to making it happen, but that doesn't stop me from trying. The most useless sound-byte blogging advice I hear mindlessly regurgitated ad infinitum is post original content, and just be yourself! Ooooh just be yourself? What does that even mean? How am I not myself? Do you want photos of me picking a wedgie? Wringing my hands in front of a blank GoogleDoc when I have a deadline in a few hours? Because that's me. Yeah.

Style blogging isn't all that strange; it just tends to throw into relief the balance that anyone tries to strike in their every day; putting forward some version of oneself that is once authentic yet palatable.

The varying degrees of failure to accomplish this is what makes anyone truly interesting.