I’ve been slowly but surely working through my photography New Year’s resolutions, which I’m actually quite proud of. I’ve still got a lot to grow in each area, but I’m happy with the effort I’ve given so far in each one.

One I’m actively working on, and the topic of this post, is conceptualizing photoshoots more and actually having a purpose for the photos. As of now it’s more thematic purposes, but I hope to further the meanings even more in the future. For example, I just did a photoshoot about Valentine’s Day that I just wrote a post about.

Until then, here’s a couple of the “themes” I’m planning to do photoshoots with in the near future. Feel free to take inspiration from these ideas and use them in your own shoots– I’m definitely taking inspiration from others with a lot of these ideas.

1. Monochromatic

I’ve talked about this before, but one of the shoots– or should I say, series of shoots– I want to is a monochromatic theme. I’ve already done a couple colors: blue, yellow, and pink (if you count the Valentine’s Day one as pink). From the ones I’ve done so far, I’ve found that you can achieve a really editorial look by curating the background, foreground, wardrobe, and makeup to the same color.

I still have more colors to do, and in fact already have a lot of the materials I’ll need for them. Wardrobe and makeup I’ve just been doing based off of what I have, but I am looking into buying a more colorful makeup palette to give me some more options when it comes to the makeup. Background wise, I’ve set up a little corner of my room for backdrop purposes, simply putting up some white poster board and adding on different colorful wrapping papers (bought at the Dollar Tree– highly recommend) or construction paper to mimic the usual cloth or vinyl photography backdrops used in an actual studio.

So far, I’m very happy with the results I’ve achieved, and I’m excited to continue with the other colors.

2. Elements

This idea is actually a little bit new. It started out with inspiration from the Burning Pile by Mother Mother trend on TikTok, a transition trend with a lighter as a prop. I participated, and really like how the lighter contributed to the lighting in the second half, so I got the inspiration to do a photoshoot with lighting from only a lighter. Then, one of the “creatives” groups I am in had a weekly visual prompt of “water”. I haven’t done the photoshoot yet, so I kind of missed the prompt deadline, but upon discussing my different ideas for photoshoots with my sister the other night, I realized I had already done two of the four elements, so why not make it full circle and do all four?

I have a couple ideas for each element, and I’ll share those concepts here, but depending on what I have in hand, they might change a bit. For fire, I definitely want a dark backdrop and low to no lighting, to allow for the lit lighter to provide most or all the lighting. I’m thinking either very dark and smoky makeup and clothing, or a very clean and plain– almost childlike– styled look. Water I want very sleek. Slicked back, wet-looking hair (Kate and I have discussed shooting after she showers just for convenience), glossy lips and eyes, and either a white or pale blue background. I want it to be less “underwater” and more “washed” or “cleansed”. I’ve also thought about using some foreground techniques to get water droplets or the like in the picture, but we’ll have to see if that looks good or not.

For earth and air I don’t have as much of a clean picture yet, but I do have a few ideas. For earth, I’ll probably want to shoot outside, so I might have to wait until we’re further into spring here. Taking inspiration from spring, I’m thinking “reborn” and “growth” as thematic words. I think browns, greens, and yellows for the color palette, and a more flowy and free style. For air, my first thought always goes to those hair commercials with hair dryers blowing back luscious locks. I’ll probably be utilizing a hair dryer at some point to get the wind swept effect, but cliffside photos might work well. Instead of clean or flowy, as I’m utilizing those for water and earth, I’m thinking more “turbulence”.

3. 60s/70s

Inspired by the rotary phones around my house and a deep brown leather couch in my basement, I think I could get some really fun shots in inspired by the 60s or 70s (depending on wardrobe availability). I’m thinking very much so warm, lively colors either way, with big teenage girl inspirations. I know it’s not exactly the time period, but I’m definitely imaging Girls Just Wanna Have Fun playing in the background. Props would include obviously the retro rotary phone, and possibly some bubblegum.

I’m thinking Cyndi Lauper, Bye Bye Birdie, young Carrie Bradshaw, all to fit a more 60s or 70s styled look. I know it’s definitely mixing decades, but that’s the phone of photoshoots– not everything has to be exactly right, and you can take some liberties. I could also see it going in a more true-to-time influence, like with Twiggy vibes.

I’m excited to start to work (or continuing to work) on these concepts, and I’m even more excited to see how all the pictures turn out. Let me know what photoshoot concepts you guys are working on, or how you’ll use these ideas to inspire your own! Until next time.