When I decided to do my first ever photo shoot for this blog, I knew it had to be colorful, full of personality, and…kinda cliché. It is the name of the blog after all! So I wracked my brain…
What’s the biggest blog photo shoot cliché?
BALLOONS.
Right? It’s gotta be balloons! Colorful balloons would be so fun! A perfect contrast to the concrete jungle and the gray of February! They’d look great in photos and be a perfect blogger cliché in the most adorable way!
The only problem was, because of crazy schedules and general ridiculous New York life, this photo shoot had to happen first thing in the morning. Where is a blogger supposed to get balloons at 7:30AM? No where! “Eh, I’ll just buy them the night before. It won’t even be 12 hours! It’ll be fine!” So I picked up 6 colorful balloons at 9PM from Party City, brought them home, and went to bed early to get my beauty sleep.
When I woke up in the morning, the balloons stood huddled in the corner of my living room like awkward freshmen at a high school party. Bad posture, no confidence, definitely deflated. Damn it! I might have popped them right then and there. But it was too early in the morning for loud noises! Instead I brought them along, hoping maybe my photographer, the wonderful John Michael Decker, could work some camera magic.
What followed was a series one might title:
Mary Lane VS Rainbow Balloons
New York Cliché VS Blogger Balloons Cliché
The victor is clear. I tried everything to make these rainbow bastards rise to the occasion!
I tried making faces at them! A mixture of disapproval and amusement!
I tried jumping up and down! Hurling myself into the air and hoping they’d demurely float after me!
I tried running around in circles like a goddamn two year old! This one actually kinda worked!
Until I stopped running.
Then Zeus, god of thunder and lightning, whose likeness is affixed to the entrance of 30 Rock (where all these photos were taken), took pity on me. He sent a gust of wind that lifted my pitiful balloons high into the air!
As you can see, this blog photo shoot turned out to be ANYTHING but cliché!
As annoying as my deflated props were, they actually turned out to be a huge blessing! Typically when photographed, I’m consumed with thoughts of “I hope I look cute!” Later, I’ll look at photos and see those words might as well be written all over my face! But in this photo shoot, I instead thought of the balloons and how ridiculous the situation is! I loosened up really fast and just had fun with it!
Makes you want to bring deflated balloons to your next photo shoot, doesn’t it? I recommend it! Really, anything that gets your mind off the self-sabotage mantra, DO I LOOK OKAY!???
Have you ever done a photo shoot, for a blog or otherwise? How did you loosen up? Any silly balloon or photography stories to share?
All photos by John Michael Decker, some edited by me!
This is so funny! Love the way you bring such a hysterical spin on something as ordinary as a group of balloons. Thanks for the grins!
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I did a 30th birthday photo shoot with some balloons and, for me, the wind was a bit of a problem! I too made silly faces at them and basically let them lead me where they wanted. So much fun though! I would love to do it again.
I have a photo shoot story. I lived in a building that shared a public courtyard with a popular wedding venue. And just a really pretty urban courtyard. A mural, a clock, a garden, bricks, wrought iron and vines and mosaics. Just very photogenic. It was a site for bridal and engagement photos a lot. There was one photographer that was notoriously rude to all the neighbors, set up stuff in front of entrances, acted put out if we asked her to move so we could, ya know, go home or get to work.
So one day I have a TON of groceries and it is snowing and I am trying to get from my car to my home and there is a freaking photo shoot basically blocking my door. Could i, just like, wait, in the sleet with a milk and chicken and a 12 pack until they got this so they wouldn’t have footprints? Thanks…
Nope. I walked right through the center. Set a bag down a readjusted. And headed in.
I love that you were able to laugh at yourself and make it work anyway, in true Mary Lane fashion! x
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