This is by far my favorite fashion photoshoot that I’ve done to date. I know I may say that a lot, but I always try to outdo the last shoot I’ve done. I put in a lot of hours of work into this shoot and it was all so worth it.

I’ve been getting a lot into building sets to better my photography and it’s been going pretty well so far. I researched checkerboard floors, but decided to make it using my Cricut machine. I hadn’t used it in years, but it was such a life saver and more cost efficient to use. I’d pretty much had all the things I needed, I just needed more black and white vinyl paper. I also made the fascinator hat that model, Vanessa, is wearing. To see how I made the hat, click here!

Often, I set up photoshoots for portfolio building purposes so that I am able to curate the portfolio that I want. I saw a picture of Jodie Turner- Smith on Pinterest, with a checkerboard floor that inspired me to make one for this fashion photoshoot. I came across a few pictures of Beyoncé wearing these really big fascinator hats and something told me to (attempt) create it. It was the perfect addition to the overall look.

We initially had a stylist, but the night before the shoot, she dropped out. Because of the lack of communication, we’d started to plan the look ourselves, roughly 2 weeks before the shoot. I’ve started to really believe the saying “everything happens for a reason”, because I believe this is the look we were MEANT to achieve.

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THE TEAM:

Photographer: Kiara Rolle

Model: Vanessa Van Dyke

Makeup artist: Ginny Graciano