It sounds melodramatic to say the past few weeks have been life changing, but for once the phrase is fairly accurate. We've been thrown into a way of living so abnormal to most of us, forced to change our ways, from not being able to see friends and loved ones to being denied (rightly) so many of the day to day routines that made up the mosaics of our lives. Not to mention the fact that the world we will step out to when lockdown is lifted is likely to be starkly different from the one we knew before.
However, the changes have not all been negative. If there is one thing we suddenly have in abundance, it is time. Time to reflect, to grow, to adapt. For me, and I'm sure for many of you, this sudden ample time was overwhelming at first. How much Netflix is too much Netflix? Tasks that would normally be urgent can be pushed to tomorrow, the next day, next week, who knows? We've got time.
The first couple of weeks of quarantine I really struggled with getting myself into a creative headspace. I did next to no work, slept all hours of the day, felt low and sluggish. I created nothing, nor did I want to. Again, I was overwhelmed. I carried on posting throwbacks of better, freer times. Of exotic trips and cherry blossoms I was destined to miss this year.
It didn't take long for these throwbacks to feel redundant. Everyone is stuck at home, trying to make sense of this new reality. Do we really want to be bombarded with pictures of places we can't visit, sights we can't see? It began to feel irrelevant. Unrelatable. So I gave myself a kick up the ass, ordered some props, dug out my tripod and lighting gathering dust in some dingy corner, and started shooting.
Admittedly, most of it was pretty terrible at first. I do not have some spacious, oh so grammable Notting Hill abode. I share a pokey (but much loved) flat in East London with two flatmates, overrun with stuff and quite frankly far too small for the three of us. But I had to make it work. Instagram is not just a hobby for me, these photos are my livelihood. And if you don't adapt, you can fall behind all too quickly.
Five weeks into quarantine (I think? I've honestly lost count...), I've found my shoot stride. More importantly, I've rediscovered a love for it, in a way I never had before. Honestly, pre-quarantine I would turn down jobs that would involve shooting at home, because I hated doing it. But I've had to learn to embrace it, and I think I finally have.
I thought I'd put together a little insight into my indoor shoot development, however I come up with my concepts, take photos in a small space etc. Hopefully it will help those of you who are struggling, or just provide a little look inside my process. If you have any questions, as always feel free to DM me or pop me an email.
Finding Inspiration
Shooting used to be so easy before, right? Pretty floral location, wear a matching dress, bam, cute photo! It may be harder to come up with an interesting home shoot concept, however I find it's been allowing me to reconnect with my creative side in a way my previous shoots hadn't. Let's be honest, so much of Instagram is cookie cutter. The same outfits, same locations, same wanderlusty skirt flicks and photoshopped perfect skies. The upside of home shooting is that your photos will always be uniquely yours, because your space will always be different.
I've been finding inspiration in a fairly similar way to how I approached my pre-lockdown shooting. I have a collection on Instagram where I save photos I like, from photogenic interiors styling to cute poses and food set ups. I've also been spending a lot of time on Pinterest, soaking up interiors, flat lays, and creative portrait photography.
Sometimes it will be some small details that sparks an idea, from a well styled indoor food spread, to an interesting use of lighting to create shadows in a portrait. My indoor fort images were inspired by something I stumbled over on Pinterest, as well as a lot of my portraiture ideas. I've also been using themes as starting points. For example a recent image was inspired by my flat's weekly "Friday Funday" cocktail nights, and the cover image of this post was a visual representation of my lockdown routine "eat, sleep, netflix, game, repeat"!
Sourcing Props
As I mentioned, my flat is far from "Instagram ready". It's small, overcrowded, and most of the rooms were only half decorated. I have to admit, I'm lucky enough to own my place, so I can do more with it, however with shops currently closed it's not really that easy to take on a renovation job. The first couple of weeks of lockdown, I scoured the internet to pick up a few cheap bits and pieces to use as props. It's by no means necessary to spend money on your photos, however as it's my job I wanted to invest in a couple of versatile pieces I could use going forward. For example my fairy lights cost me around £20, but I've been using them in so many photos in different ways. Amazon is a treasure trove for props that don't break the bank, from photography backdrops to fake flowers.
There's also so many things I already had around the house that are inspiring me right now. My collection of throws (I love a snuggly blanket!) and cushions have made regularly appearances in my images, and my bar cart has become a regular guest. I've been arranging and rearranging my wall art to create new gallery wall compositions. Honestly, my flatmates are getting sick of me constantly moving everything around, but it's worth it for the gram!
Planning and Equipment for Shooting Indoors
Shooting indoors is SO different from shooting on location. On location I'd always go with a friend or family member to a set location, shoot and move on. I'd usually have 3 or 4 locations done by noon, but I'm finding shooting indoors one shot takes up most of my day!
I generally like to have an idea of what I want to shoot in my head the day before, so when I wake up I'm ready to go. I'm trying to shoot every day at the moment, purely because there's so much trial and error involved that not every shoot is fruitful.
It takes me about half an hour to set up. Although I could rope in my (reluctant) boyfriend, I'm actually finding it easier to set up my tripod, and remote shoot using my mobile phone. It allows me to check my pose on my phone, and use the timer to shoot. I'm finding it results in a lot less dud shots!
I also have a lighting stand (bought via Amazon), which I can set up to even out the one sided lighting from a window, or act as my main light on portrait shoots. It never used to get much use before, but now it's vital! Even though I have a pretty naturally bright flat, it's never going to be the same as shooting outdoors light-wise, so decent lighting has proved crucial.
Adapting my feed to indoor content
Indoor content is a completely different beast, there's no denying. It takes so much more time, effort, and creativity, yet will usually get half the likes of a floral wall at a pastel cafe! But I'm finding it creatively rewarding to test myself and adapt to the current situation. I found it easier for my overall feed cohesion to abandon all previous content, and give my Instagram up completely to home content. Of course this is a completely personal choice, but I just felt that my home content was enough of a departure that it didn't really make sense to mix it in with throwbacks from an aesthetic standpoint.
Generally my home content is brighter, with stronger colours and more white space than my photos on location, purely because that's what the space I have to work with is like. I've found my usual editing style didn't work quite so well, so have had to tweak it to do the photos justice. For example, I removed certain filters that distorted colours to ensure my whites stay white. My one main rule of editing is that however much you filter and image, whites should stay white!
I think the main thing I've learnt from this, is that adaptability is key. There is just no way I could keep creating exactly the same style of content, and I didn't feel comfortable endlessly posting throwbacks of things we can no longer experience. From trying new concepts to changing up my editing, it has been a big learning curve, and I'm sure I'm going to continue to refine and progress as long as this goes on.
I think the hardest thing right now is finding the creativity and motivation, when you're stuck in a space that isn't obviously "grammable". My advice for this, is to just keep trying. I know, easier said than done. But it took me trying and failing at a lot of different things before I found some sort of flow, and rediscovered the joy of creating something I was proud of. At the end of the day, it's that joy that motivates us to keep creating.
As a starting point, find a photo you like, and think about ways to recreate it at home. Cute picnic photo? Make yourself an indoor picnic! All you need is a picnic basket, or something that will pass as one, a blanket, and some tasty food. Or try and make your own indoor fort! Take inspiration from themes: from colours and sparkles to quarantine activities. Even if the resulting photos aren't worthy of making the feed, they'll be a stepping stone towards creating something that does.
