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Today, I’m sharing the BTS of my Spring styled shoot. At the start of the year, I set a goal to get out of my comfort zone and make time for more creative shoots.

The Inspiration For Our Spring Styled Shoot

I wanted to draw on Spring as the inspiration for this styled shoot. Spring represents a clean slate, clearing the junk in your house, clearing out emotions. The purpose of me doing these shoots is to avoid the burnout of doing the same style of photography everyday. The symbolism of Spring being a fresh start and the shoot being a way for me to stay fresh as a photographer, felt perfect.

As I thought about Spring, I remembered a Gucci fragrance ad that’s been living in my head rent-free for the last six years. The ad was full of florals. It screamed Spring, nostalgia, and romance. One of the scenes in the video ad featured a few models sitting in a room, filled to the brim with florals. With our theme and inspiration chosen, it was time to start planning.

The Planning

I started planning the shoot in November of 2023. The first people I brought into the planning were my incredible Shutter Haus team. They contributed creative ideas, helped market the event, and captured BTS video on the day of the shoot. We called in some help from our neighboring studio, Aloha Paradise Studio, who were the hosts of our second location on shoot day. From there, we made a list of vendors we’d need to pull off our idea. We sent each vendor a moodboard to see if they’d be interested in collaborating and what ideas they’d like to see come to life. With the vision and vendors locked, we promoted the Spring Styled Shoot on social media and sold out in a few days!

The planning was actually an underrated part of the process because it gave me the opportunity to connect and collaborate with so many incredible vendors. The shoot really couldn’t have happened without each of them interpreting and building on the theme in their own way.

For example, one of my original ideas for styling the hair was a large, floral, headpiece. But, our hair stylist, Donny, had a different idea to incorporate the florals into a sculptural braid. It was important to me to give everyone freedom to think outside of the box. We have to remember that we’re never really alone. If you’re feeling burnt out from doing the same thing everyday, chances are the other creatives around you are feeling the same. So, I let everyone go for it and look how incredible Donny’s idea turned out!

The Day Of The Shoot

On a Monday, we gathered 20 vendors and 10 attendees at SHUTTER HAUS, the creative studio I co-founded with my business partner Kris. We spent about 7 hours, from set up to tear down, being creative with the best people! I’d imagined most of the vendors would leave after we finished set-up. Instead, almost all of them were so excited to see how the shoot turned out, that they stayed for most of the day.

The Final Result: Spring Styled Shoot

We also opened the event up to other photographers and videographers to capture their own content. It was a great opportunity for me to meet new faces. I heard so many vendors and creators saying things like “Wow I’ve always wanted to do something like this”. I saw the excitement on their faces getting to flex their creative muscles. Because, hey, if you don’t use it, you lose it! The feeling on set and all the feedback was so encouraging. The fun didn’t stop there. The icing on the cake was watching everyone’s photos and videos start rolling out. Even though we were all capturing the same scene, everyone had their own spin on it – from how they captured their content to how they edited it.

I hope this inspires you to find your own creative community and maybe even plan a styled shoot! If you’re interested in attending my next styled shoot, sign up for my newsletter to stay in the loop.