Because I don't conveniently have a boyfriend
who also likes photography who will follow me around all day
and take photos of me.
So, this is my life.
So, today I am going on little Instagram photoshoot,
you know, as one does.
A casual, non-narcissistic daytime activity.
I am by no means a professional model or Instagram human.
Which is already apparent based on my face,
but there's a whole like hierarch to Instagram that I have yet to attain.
But I'm trying my best to get better at it so I thought
I would take you guys along on that journey with me today!
Basically
*SIREN*
Basically the neighborhood that I live in is not that nice,
case in point.
So today we're gonna be driving about half an hour out to the Fairfax / Miracle Mile part of L.A.
That area has a really nice vibe that I think will be
less ugly than Westwood.
But for maximum efficiency so I can get like a couple different Instagram photos out of the $4 gallon of gas
that I'm gonna be using today, I thought I would pack a couple other outfits.
So basically my goal here is to pack as many different things that look like different outfits,
but aren't really different outfits,
so I don't have to like get completely naked in my car in public to change,
you know, so I'm thinking first
I'm gonna shoot like just with this dress and then I could change it up
with an oversized jacket and I was thinking these shoes with it, get some texture going.
I don't know if you guys remember these things
from like a couple years ago when they were really trendy,
they are these little like scarf neck ties this could look a cute with it.
I could do like a little portrait style thing. Give them a little shoulder.
Um, I don't know so I guess I'm gonna pack this too.
Can I figure out if I can layer this dress over this dress and then it won't look like super lumpy.
Okay. Well, I kind of look like a child.
Marla Catherine is quaking.
I was also thinking of packing this ensemble,
but I feel like I would have to get completely naked to change into it.
So it might be an outfit for another day.
You know, I'm gonna pack it just in case.
Will I get arrested for public nudity today?
Let's find out. So here is everything I'm bringing.
I have a bag full of clothing and accessories,
I have this picnic bitch basket, which I might use as a prop,
but in the meantime I stuck in some accessories
I have this, if I could, I have this bendy tripod looking thing.
And then of course, I have the love of my life.
Which is this fancy and honestly obscenely expensive camera that I got recently.
For the longest time I've been shooting all of my videos on my vlog camera,
which is what I'm using the film this one right now.
But recently I thought it was time for an upgrade, got this big boy.
So that's what we're gonna be shooting most of our photos on today and then a couple bonus things,
I also have a water bottle so I don't die in like the ninety degree heat
and then a brow gel because my brows are fake AF
and they melt off pretty fast in the heat when I get sweaty so they may need a little reapplication.
My question for you is have you heard the Walmart yodeling kids new music.
Okay, we're not at Fairfax yet,
but I just passed by the most beautiful fucking building I've ever seen and I'm in Beverly Hills right now,
so I just literally pulled over into this parking spot and I'm park very illegally,
I'm gonna jump out real fast fingers crossed
I won't get a parking ticket and I'm gonna try to get a couple shots in front of this building because this is
gorgeous.
What I didn't realize that there's someone sitting in their car
literally right behind me so they watched me do that entire thing.
I'm gonna slowly drive away now so that I don't have to make eye contact with them.
So right now I feel like I'm in a quiet enough block
to actually walk you guys through my process of how I shoot.
Because I don't want to carry around a big tripod and draw attention to myself
and because L.A. is incredibly anal about where you can shoot and shooting permits
I've gotten kicked out of places for having a tripod before,
so I just try to make do by balancing my camera on random objects,
whether that's my purse I have this little tiny bendy tripod that I can put like on the roof of my car,
I can balance the camera in my trunk and stuff like that.
My strategy for shooting my own photos is actually to not use the self-timer function on my camera
and to instead just click record and take a video because it's basically taking a continuous stream of photos
So if I only hit the actual pose I've wanted for like 0.1 seconds, It has it captured.
I also find that it's just more efficient because I can smash through poses really fast
without having to wait for the self timer to
actually go off every time on my camera,
and one of my favorite ways to pose especially because I'm like
an awkward being at posing is to sit on steps.
I feel like it takes the pressure off of having this like uncomfortable like
''Hey, I'm standing here!'' type of pose.
I also feel like sitting down gives you more options in terms of filling the frame in terms of composition,
because you know, you can move your legs to one side. You can do a little of this action.
Right now it is broad daylight. It's around 4 p.m. and the sun is beating down,
I'm getting a little bit sweaty, and I don't know if you guys can tell,
but I found a spot in the shade,
there are a bunch of trees lining the street.
So hopefully the lighting will be a little bit more diffused and it won't be so harsh on my skin.
So yeah, let's get shooting.
I'm gonna put my hair up this full variety and so it kind of looks like
I didn't shoot all my photos on the same day.
I look kind of bald though.
So for this setup I started out with taking a couple of close-up shots,
I tried to do a couple fun expressions, but honestly
I think my tongue isn't long enough to do the tongue sticking out pose,
or just like maybe something's wrong with my face.
I don't know. So my go-to expression is that weird Instagram smolder thing that everyone does.
Basically, I don't know if need an explanation of this,
but I just focus on relaxing my face and making sure the corners of my mouth are pointing up,
but I'm not tensing or pouting my mouth up too much.
I don't know, this is a weird shit to describe,
and then I tried to add some movement to the photos
by spinning around and playing with my pony tail and shit.
Okay, now I'm gonna try to position my camera so I can get a shot on these stairs,
hopefully as centered as possible.
I'm just zooming in a little bit on this baby.
Let's see how it turns out.
I'm also gonna record a little bit on my vlog camera,
because it looks like the framing for this is pretty nice and centered,
a little Wes Andersony.
Okay, well now my hair is a mess,
but I'm gonna try to fix that and then to round out this shoot,
I would try to shoot my final outfit with a gingham skirt.
After I changed it into my final outfit and managed
miraculously to not flash anyone on the street.
I realized like an idiot,
I forgot to bring a strapless bra for this top,
so I ended up putting my hair in two braids and trying my best to position them,
so they hid the straps.
For all the photos in this video so far including these ones
I've been keeping my lens angle pretty wide.
I feel like it's hard to explain but I like that the wide angle gives a more dynamic,
kind of fashion editorial look as opposed to if I zoom in too much.
This is around 70 millimeters right now.
It makes my face look a little wider,
there's kind of less movement in the frame and less context of where we are,
and it gives a more generic headshot vibe in my opinion.
Obviously, this is all up to personal preference, but
wide-angle lenses are just what floats my boat.
Anyways, I really played around with the poses for this outfit.
I'm really really going for that frolicking picnic bitch look like:
''Oh! I'm just casually squatting near these flowers
as one does on a fine summer day.''
Hey guys! So my camera ran out of battery the other day so I didn't get to finish shooting.
Also, somehow managed to literally throw my phone into a puddle in Beverly Hills. I lost it.
So I spent the rest of yesterday like frantically trying to find it again.
So I thought I would show you guys today how I kind of take photos on a more
casual basis when I'm not like out and location scouting.
Right now I was just running some errands in Santa Monica
I finally bought a hat that fit me and I was like, why don't I take some Instagram photos?
There are so many people walking by I feel so awkward.
I'm so excited because my head is too damn big to fit most hats.
So I was like: you know what, I'm wearing a cute outfit,
I have some time on my parking meter, might as well take a couple more photos.
For this outfit I was just looking for a plain brick wall to add a little bit of color New Yorky style,
I feel like I'm always looking for New York type backgrounds even though I'm in fucking L.A.
So right now I'm just on this like random street in Santa Monica near the Plomin(?).
Ah, there's a parking garage, cute!
Then here I am against this random wall, but I thought it would be a good option,
because there's this nice little ledge over here,
so I can rest my handy-dandy purse / tripod situation.
So I'm just gonna take a couple photos and we'll see how they turn out.
I went into this one pretty much knowing which composition I wanted,
so it was really all about just getting the right pose.
The best angles are obviously different for each person and outfit,
and especially for someone who like me is not a model,
it's really just about giving yourself as many options as possible.
One thing that I've learned through this whole process
is that even what seems like a small head tilt or change in hand position
can honestly make a huge difference in a photo or maybe I'm just obscenely picky.
Either way I like to run through small variations on each pose,
whether that's like tilting my head, moving my hips a little bit,
smiling, moving my eyes. I don't know, I just want options.
And here is how everything turned out.
I think they have a much more like
stereotypical Instagram / tumblr feel than the rest of my photos in this video.
12 year old tumblr-obsessed me would probably
reblog the shit out of that,
but honestly quite happy with how they turned out.
Okay, and I guess that is all I have for you guys. Thank you so much for watching this video,
I know it's kind of weirdly split between two days and perhaps all over the place.
However long I do this vlogging thing,
I still get like so flustered when other people are around which is why I'm a little bit weird.
So, thank you so much for watching,
let me know if you guys want me to do another video on how I edit my Instagram photos.
That's like a whole another project, but as always, thank you so much for watching,
and also hello to all the new people on my channel.
I feel like there's literally been like a hundred thousand people who joined in the last month, which is crazy.
So thank you so much and I'll see you guys next week. Bye.
Yes, I look like such an Instagram model.