The Vintage Fashion Challenge
Over on Instagram I’m participating in The Vintage Fashion Challenge. It’s a month-long challenge wherein each day has a specific “challenge” within a theme. The first week was “getting to know you” and each day was a different aspect of life to share. This week is color week! I especially love color week, as it sets me up to explore all the colors in my closet and perhaps wear things I don’t normally reach for. And while I’ve worn this skirt on the blog before, I haven’t really thought to pair it with this top, and in general I have found this top to be harder to style than I expected. The theme for these photos was “yellow”. My original idea was to pose in a field of yellow flowers or in a yellow bush, but when I drove past the local graveyard and saw how gorgeous the flowering bushes there are right now, and how pretty the light was… well.
Sometimes, as much as I loved the idea of posing surrounded by yellow, it’s good to be flexible in your ideas. I never would have gotten photos like this if I had stuck stubbornly to my original idea! And I did get a photo in a yellow bush, but I’m glad I didn’t stop there.
I am really enjoying photography lately. I have been pushing myself to find pretty locations and pretty light, and to get out of my rut of going to the same spots for photos. In the above yellow bush photo, I was right on a main street of town, and had stopped at this particular place specifically for the bush (which I had seen earlier in the day.) It happens to be in front of a resale store, and the sign was still on. Because I didn’t want to be a bother, I decided to go inside and make sure I could park in their parking lot and take photos with the bushes out front. To my surprise, nobody was there and the door was locked.
Before I could leave, though, the owner arrived and said she’d forgotten to turn off her sign and let the resident cat in — the latter of which showed up purring and wanting to be petted. I asked if she minded my taking photos around her shop, and she gave me full permission not only to take photos then, but to come back when more things were blooming to photograph again! It was a lovely experience and through that meeting I chatted with a few other women who had been walking by, who then asked about my blog and vintage style for a bit. It’s always lovely meeting people via what I do, and I’m glad that I got over my fear of being seen taking self portraits in that spot.
It’s definitely inspired me to continue going to more public places to take the photos I really want to take. What inspires you lately?
