I was browsing instagram, like ya do, when I saw that NatGeo was holding a very short contest to celebrate hitting 100 million followers on the platform. Submit your most NatGeo photo, tag it with the right hashtag, vote on the top ten images in their story on Friday, and then some lucky photographer gets to go to Tanzania, all expenses paid.
Naturally, I jumped at the chance, and then immediately regretted it and doubted myself because of fucking COURSE I did.
I've submitted a shitload of photos to NatGeo photo essay contests before. While it seems a bit silly to say I've never won, or even gotten and honorable mention, and that means my photos aren't worthy of their contest, I admit that's how I feel about myself. I started using my own hashtag, #pickmenatgeo , on instagram. I just checked, and it's still my hashtag alone...almost. One other person has the hashtag in one of their photos, and I'm not really sure why, but it doesn't matter much. I've always wanted to be a NatGeo photographer. NatGeo's instagram page liking a photo of mine would probably give me a heart attack, and that's just a social platform embodiment of a concept. I'm not really sure what it would mean to me, or do to me, to get even a small mention, or a huge win, for a photo contest they held.
I picked a photo that I took that I think best embodies Nat Geo quality, entered it into the contest (read: I used the correct hashtag under my photo), and then looked through all of the already submitted images and realized I don't have a fucking snowball's chance in the senate. There are literally thousands and thousands of amazing images, and I got disheartened and had to shut instagram down after only getting eight likes. I read the contest rules, and the top photos are chosen out of the pool of photos that have the biggest likes. That won't be mine. It's a stupid fucking photo of albatross checking out a double rainbow. Check it:
Don't get it twisted, I fucking love this photo. I really earned it, too. I had to go running through a torrential downpour and cleverly maneuver my camera bag so I could wipe the gallons of water off of my lens so it would be clear enough to take this shot of a bunch of paired off albatross enjoying the early evening glow of the setting sun, and a glorious double rainbow. I was fucking soaked, cold, being clacked at by a VERY fucking large male albatross who did not like the cut of my jib (me either, mother fucker, joke's on you), I had no idea where I was in relation to where I was supposed to be, I didn't know where Derek had run off to, and I didn't know where I was supposed to be going to find him. It was a stressful few minutes that culminated in one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken. But is it NatGeo material? I mean....probably not.
If you're on instagram, check out their #natgeo100contest hashtag submissions. So many of those images are just insanely, ridiculously gorgeous. I hate feeling like I don't deserve to think my photos are worthy of gracing the same space as these photographers, but at the same time, there are thousands and thousands of amazing photographers out there with more experience, more patience, and more creativity than I have, so it's a warranted feeling.
Moving on to my own photos.
I was contacted by a model a little bit ago, and she wanted to do a shoot with me. I've had some ideas floating around my head for some shoots (one exceptionally huge one that I want to talk about so badly but cannot until every last aspect of it is completed. The suspense is KILLING ME!), so I was like, fuck yeah, let's do a collab! Turns out, she was WAY fucking game to spend three entire days with me, shooting whatever I suggested, culminating in one of my favorite shoots EVER. Here we go:
I have a confession to make: I've just bought a mermaid tail. A good one (from FinFolk Productions. Am I angling to buy more? YES). I've been wanting to do a mermaid shoot here since the first time I saw the site, and I am SO FUCKING EXCITED at the idea of doing the mermaid shoot I want to do (I even have three ladies that will happily model the tail and do the shoot for me, it's just a matter of schedule logistics now) with it. But before I took the plunge and spent the skrill on the tail, I had to try and conceptualize the idea with a human, and Kate did a fucking FANTASTIC job. Those are both real backgrounds, nothing is faked, this is what this place looks like (someone asked if it was a backdrop, and I was thrilled), and with a little bit of help from her dad holding up the bounce board because Derek was unavailable due to CQ duty, everything worked out, and the resulting photos are straight out of the mermaid fantasy shoot I've been building in my head.
We've had a large cache of prop lingerie for awhile, but most people get excited at the idea of buying their own saucy undergarments and being photographed in something they chose. And I get that one thousand percent. Kate traveled here, though, and din't bring much of her own stuff. The stuff she DID bring was adorbs for real, but because I shot with her more than once, we ran through it all. So fucking VICTORY for my boudoir closet!!! That fringed number is one I've been desperate to photograph on someone. It's so fucking playful and sexy and I really love it. We hiked all the way out to Kaena Point dragging a HUGE wagon of lighting equipment and props and clothes and shoes with us, and I think it was worth it. The shoes are my favorite Gianni Bini's, and I was stoked they fit Kate, too. I designed the entire shoot, from the make up (I'm really getting pretty alright at that!), the hair, the clothes, the shoes, the site, the lighting, the time, all of it. Everything except the poses, which Kate CRUSHED. I have a few of her up on the ladder, she really was a sport, but this was my favorite one of the set.
This fucking photo.
No bullshit, I think this is the best photo of a person I've ever taken.
For those of you playing the home game, the faux fur is mine. I wore it during my boudoir shoot, and I think is is so fabulously luxe and gorgeous and I've really been angling to shoot it on EVERYBODY. I bought it with the explicit intention of recycling the look as often as I could, and I just haven't been able to do it often enough. The shoes? Oh yeah, those were my shoes from the same boudoir shoot, as well. I call this look my "trash monster" look, which is how I refer to myself a lot of the time. Unfortunately, I'm not a model, so I can't go waltzing about the world, wearing this get up like I own the place, so I have to settle for dressing other people in it and making the shots look cool. And I truly think this one accomplishes that quite well.
I have a lot of other shots of Kate. Three days of shooting was very productive, and I'm STILL editing things while trying to get my website together and balancing that with school and relationships and trying to not stress myself to death. It isn't an easy balance.
That's about all I have to say on photography right now. I have to go press tofu for dinner.
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