Photography: Greg Nation Photography
I count myself incredibly lucky to be able to do a photoshoot like this. Anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with ANTM: America’s Next Top Model. I love taking photos. My love of creative photoshoots goes WAYYY back. Back to when I lived in a small farmhouse with my mom and brother. I would make my brother walk into weeds and on bridges with me to do a photo shoot.
In this photoshoot, I was able to take my years of planning outfits, locations, and concepts for photos, to use those skills to have have the best photoshoot ever.
In this post, I’ll show you my behind the scenes preparation and work for my photoshoot.
My Photoshoot:
For my senior pictures, my goal was to recreate a collection of photos that I had saved for YEARS. My photoshoot would have 2 Parts
An Indoor Studio Photoshoot. (Professional, Classy, Boss)
Outdoor Photoshoot (More traditional Senior Photos)
For the studio portion, I pulled creative and fashion inspiration from Lilly Singh (Youtuber), Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black), Yara Shahidi (Blackish, Grownish), and Michele Obama (duh) to create this photoshoot. I can’t believe how well it turned out…
My Photoshoot Inspiration
For years, I obsessed over these pictures — black girls acting boss and being as confident as ever! I compiled a Pinterest board and it as a reference for my outfits and the photographer! We also had an outdoor portion, which I have to be honest, I did not plan as much. Luckily my graduation cap and gown came in, and I was able to wear that for a lot of my pictures.
Photoshoot Prep and More
After I planned out my photoshoot, we scheduled dates and times with the photographer, Greg Nation. Crunch time. I ordered outfits off of Zara, which (thanks to COVID never came in time). My mom and I stayed up three nights in a row, watching Love is Blind, and we were able to finish it the night before. I created my second Pinterest Board for the outdoor portion of the photoshoot. On the day of, I woke up early, and went to target where I bought setting spray, blazers, hair gel, lip gloss, and more.
Other random items I bought that day (and my mom ended up bringing)
White frilly tees
My faux gucci belt
Gold earrings
Fake eyelashes
Eyeliner
My mom’s Calvin Klein Dress
My Photoshoot
I was so happy the day my photoshoot came. And when I walked into the studio, I could not believe my eyes. First of all, Greg has the coolest set up ever. It was so professional and classy. I could not believe it. He took two photos of my step-dad Kent, and I knew that this was the photoshoot of my dreams.
I walked in and he showed me his studio, and let me set my clothes down. He let me have large amounts of creative control and test out so many ideas that I had saved. We started inside, and then went to a park for my more traditional photos. I will let the behind the scenes photos speak for themselves, but I really have to say this was one of my most favorite projects. Work with people who are talented, and bring your best ideas, and only amazing thing can happen. Huge shout out to Greg Nation for making this possible! Another huge shoutout for my mom and stepdad for connecting me with this photographer and assisting me the whole time. I could not have done it without you guys.
