When Inspiration Hits, Follow It!
I did something this past weekend that I never knew I desired to do until the idea presented itself!
Let’s backup…
Going into the new year I held an intention to use imagery that better captures and conveys the energy I desire to put into the world through who I am as well as the things I write about…I wanted my online presence to be vibier!
This also happened to coincide with a newfound love for Freebird boots.
(I had stumbled into one of their stores in December and walked out with two pair for me and two pair for my mom)!
Something about these boots spoke to my soul. I don’t know why, I just know they did.
Feeling the fun, fresh energy of the New Year, an inspired idea hit me:
A photoshoot in a style centered around the boots, with the intention to capture energy that translated through the images!
My initial idea was to do the shoot in a cool, local spot.
But God had a better idea!
In the span of less than a week the idea morphed into something I couldn’t have imagined…
I connected with a photographer, who in hearing about my idea, suggested shooting in Marathon and Big Bend National Park…two places that have captured my heart since my first visit in 2002 and the dozen or more visits since then!
Upon hearing the idea, I felt my heart explode with excitement!
But, in trying not to be too impulsive, I sat with the idea for a weekend to see if it “made more sense” to stay local…
But the excitement never dimmed!
In fact, the mere thought of saying “no” to be “more practical” made me contract.
So the following Monday I messaged the photographer with a definitive YES!
This gave me just under two months to get ready. And by ready, I needed to figure out what I was wearing!
I had the boots, but not much else figured out.
My everyday style is not very defined (besides being jeans and casual), but I wanted the shoot to have a more defined style.
Using the boots as a stepping off point, I wanted a Western/Americana feel to the outfits (and one chic look).
This led to getting a hat…after figuring out what type of hat I even wanted!
(Spoiler: I chose a wide, flat brimmed fedora with an unexpected detail of star cutouts in the brim to represent “Always Shine Brightly”. And it’s a Stetson, which I love, since it’s also a subtle nod to one of my favorite cowboys, Stetson Wright!).
And other accessories…
Like fun wild rags and a chunky belt…things I’d never worn prior to preparing for this shoot.
I also saw something on a reel featuring NFR fashion that I’d never seen or noticed before, but instantly loved how it took her outfit from plain to elevated!
Except I didn’t know what that “thing” was called and I hadn’t saved the reel to be able to refer back to it!
But the energy of the intention I was holding was always flowing with me because on one of my shopping excursions to Fredericksburg with my mom, we stumbled upon that very “thing” in an antique store!
(It’s called a collar! Without knowing the name, I couldn’t look it up online, but that didn’t matter because The Universe led me right to it!).
Everything flowed together seamlessly, from finding my perfect photographer (who had the idea for the location!) to figuring out the outfits, to the actual day of the shoot…
…where we had a mind blowing sunrise (when fog was expected), low to no wind (when the next day it was supposed to be 50 mph with 70 mph gusts) and just a very smooth, no stress day of going to multiple locations to shoot.
A big shout out to my sister-in-law, Emily, who played a crucial role in doing my hair and makeup, posing me (a skill I do not have!), fixing things as needed, helping the photographer with his lights and taking behind the scenes pics and videos on phone, like this one…
To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how I’m going to use each of the final photos.
It might be odd to share my normal captions under some of them.
But what I do know is I’ve been following a flow of inspiration by continuously saying Yes to it.
And it’s been super fun and exciting.So I’m just going to keep trusting in it’s full unfolding.
And I hope you do the same with hits of inspiration that make your heart explode with excitement!
Always Shine Brightly,
Shanna
I can’t wait to share the professional pics when they’re ready!
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