Behind the Scenes: 5 Things I do to Prepare for a Photoshoot
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Last night I had the amazing opportunity to meet up with a very talented hair stylist in the Utah area and have my hair colored and cut by her! She had found me on Instagram and reached out, asking if we could collaborate, and after checking out her work, I knew that my hair would be in good hands. As we worked on changing up my balayage for fall and winter, we started chatting about blogging and how Hey There, Chelsie got to be where it is today. I realized that there is a lot of “behind the scenes” stuff that happens that I never talk about or share! It’s not because I want to be secretive or that I’m doing something sketchy, I just didn’t realize that people wanted to know about my actual blogging process. So, starting today, I’m going to start sharing more posts that share what goes one behind the computer screen as I work on growing this space.
I was telling Christy Lee (my stylist) that when I started blogging, I never envisioned myself being a style or beauty blogging. I was actually really self-conscious and ashamed of my scars and never thought I would be comfortable or confident enough to actually share photos of myself and what I was wearing with the whole world. However, as I started incorporating more fashion posts and photos into my blog, I realized that I was starting a healing process. I began to invest more time into myself and found a new confidence and self-love as I shared my story through my clothes with others. I wanted to show others that despite the fact that I have scars and a traumatic past, I can still take pride in my body for the things it has gotten me through. I’ve been learning to love myself again through doing fashion posts on my blog and I’ve learned so much about myself since I started doing them!
But! Here’s the thing: I don’t want to be one of those fashion bloggers who makes you feel like you have to buy new clothes every day or buy really expensive things to look put together and follow the trends. I’m very much a “real girl” and try to share that through my style. That’s why you’ll see me style pieces multiple ways, or see the same accessories pop up in many outfits. I’m a real girl who only has so much money to spend and I want to get the most out of my clothes as anyone else does!
Anyway, today, I want to share the behind the scenes of the process I go through to do a fashion photoshoot!
1. Take my outfit for a test drive
This goes back to my fashion philosophy that I shared above: I’m a real girl who wants to share attainable clothes and outfit options with her audience. So, before I shoot any outfit, I take it for a test drive a couple days before to make sure it’s something that I would really wear. I want to make sure that the outfit is comfortable and that I can go through my daily errands without having any malfunctions. If I’m styling a piece that was sent to me by a company, I want to wear it a few times to make sure it’s something I truly like and feel comfortable promoting to my audience! I’m kind of over the word “authentic” but I truly try to be as authentic as possible when it comes to what outfits I share on my blog!
2. Make sure all the gear is charged up
This is a big one: I can’t tell you how many times Dustin and I go out to a location to shoot an outfit and my battery is dead OR I’m missing a SD card. It’s the WORST! After having that happen to us multiple times in a row this summer, I’ve gotten into the habit of putting my battery on the charger at least 30 minutes before we go out to shoot, even if it is fully charged!
3. Go over location, poses, and the overall goal with my Photographer
Dustin does almost all of my photos (and he’s getting really good at them) but I’ve learned that Dustin can’t read my mind. I used to just slap my camera in his hands and tell him to take my picture and would get so frustrated with him when they weren’t what I wanted. Before we go out to shoot, I tell him what the photos are for, what pieces I would like to highlight, and the overall vibe of the shoot I’m going for. Sometimes I’ll pull up some examples on Pinterest to give him a visual or I’ll make him pose and take the photos first to show him.
4. Remove all dog hair from my clothes
Oh Rosie Roo, my sweet golden haired pup. While she is the light of my life, she also comes with a lot of hair and it just gets EVERYWHERE. Having dog hair on my clothes is one of my pet peeves (no pun intended) so it’s important to me to remove it whenever I can. That’s why our home has 5 Scotch-Brite™ Lint Rollers scattered all over the place because they are the only tools that effectively and quickly remove dog hair (and other lint/fuzzies) from our clothes. I’m not even kidding, we have one in our room, one in my office, one in the kitchen, one in the laundry room and one in our closet. The Scotch-Brite Lint Rollers are the only ones that use the Scotch™ adhesive, so I know I can trust them to be sticky and to get the job done!
When we first got Rosie and realized that having a lint roller would be the key to my sanity, we went to Walmart to grab one. Once we got there, we quickly realized that we had no idea where to find Lint Rollers! We had to ask an employee after wandering around for 20 minutes. Turns out, you can find the lint rollers in several places like the cleaning supply aisle and the closet/laundry aisle!
5. Remove all dog hair from the car!
Rosie loves to go for car rides, which means that our car also has her hair all over it. So, there’s no point in my lint rolling myself just to get into the car to go to our shooting location because I’ll be covered in it again. Dustin and I tried EVERYTHING to get clean out the dog hair before realizing we had the solution hanging around our house all along: Scotch-Brite Lint Rollers! We actually use the Scotch-Brite™ 50% Stickier Lint Roller in the car because it’s ideal for picking up pet hair and crumbs.
These lint rollers are not just limited to rolling, which is why using them in the car is so effective. I’ve found that there are ways to use them to get the crumbs and dog hair out of those hard to reach nooks and crannies, too!
1. Rip off one sheet from the lint roller carefully – it’s super sticky and will stick up on its self if you aren’t careful
2. Fold the sheet in half, sticky side out
3. Stick the sheet down between the car seats (or any other hard to reach nooks and crannies) to get the crumbs and pet hair out! Seriously, I used to get so frustrated because all the hair and crumbs would hide out between the seats or way underneath the seats and I could never clean them! Now I can with my lint roller!
The Scotch-Brite Lint Rollers are super versatile and you can check out other ways to use them here!
I’d love to know if you want to see more behind-the-scenes type posts on the blog in the comments below. Also, if you are a fur parent, what is your favorite way to deal with pet hair?!
