Blogging Behind the Scenes

I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me, “Who takes your Instagram photos and how do you get such beautiful shots?”  My answers are always the same. I force my husband to take multiple photos of me any chance I get. It is not fun for him and I’ve tested his patience to the max. If you look at his photo library, 99% of it are pictures of me. Why? Because rarely does it take one shot to capture the perfect photo. I always think if someone were to scroll through his feed, it would be quite the embarrassment. When David’s not around to play Ansel Adams, I plead with my children. 

Sonia is the most willing, I’ve resorted to paying my son Jack $20 dollars for every photo that I post, and Vivian simply refuses – only until recently when she saw me set up a selfie station at home and actually felt sorry for me.

When my children aren’t around, I have now mustered up the chutzpah to ask strangers on the street to take photos of me. It’s not because I consider myself all that fabulous, but if there’s something to share and inspire, I don’t want to let the moment to pass. The other 50% of my Instagram photos are taken by a professional photographer, in which hundreds of shots are snapped and only a select few are chosen. 

Why am I sharing all of this? I share this with you because there is a myth that perfection exists, and the reality is – it does not. Truth be told, as I sit hear writing this, I’m in sweaty sweats, my hair is dirty as hell, and I’ve already had a cry and… it’s only 11am. 

The point I’m trying to make is life is not perfect nor is every photo perfect. It takes a lot of hard work and embarrassing moments to create the ideal imagery I want to share on social media. My goal is certainly to put out beautiful content and I do take pleasure in doing so, but this is by no means an effortless process where the photographer says, “cheese”, and voila – the job is done. 

I wanted to share these photo bloopers with you to show you a real side that you may not see. I wish to credit a mentor and friend of mine, Lauren Elyce, who is a blogger and always manages to keep it real. She recently published a blog post  showing her less than perfect side, and in a time when, many people, including myself, are comparing and feeling less than when it comes to social media (I too get sucked into the social media vortex), Lauren’s post resonated with me and inspired me to share my bloopers with my readers. 

Next time when you see what might appear to be the perfect photo, you’ll know the truth behind it.

Please share your comments below: