Instagram vs. Real Life

Can we talk real life please? Yes. Me. The photographer who knows how to make four droopy rows of tired sunflowers look like fields of gold grown just for the illusion of instagram. I know every girl, young and old, wants a sunflower session with handfuls of heart-shaped sunflare and blue skies draped over perfect smiles and sun-kissed cheeks.
I know how to make that happen, but I also know the reality of creating those images …

So, let’s break it down. Here’s the dirty little details…
Take a deep breath. There were bees. LOTS OF BEES! We had to get up close and personal with bees on our hair and bees on our clothes and bees dive-bombing our FACES. Yes, fuzzy little legs TOUCHED MY FACE.
Here is the proof. Take this cute, little guy and multiply him by the number of sunflowers you see, because well that’s what they were there to do and no instagram mission was going to make them stand down.

If you are still with me, the next challenge we had was the very small patch of actual sunflowers. While this next image may look like miles and miles of sunflower bliss.
It. was. not.

Here’s where the photo magic starts and ends. This was actually a couple of rows of sunflowers in front of CORN FIELDS. Your eye doesn’t really detect where the flowers end and the corn begins, but gold is gold I guess. Instagram illusion win!
Ready for another reality smack? The few rows of sunflowers take a bit of editing to look insta-worthy. Here’s what we were really dealing with. Close-ups and blurred backgrounds were our friend! (notice how I am not watermarking this next photo?! ugly. just ugly!)

There was only one direction I could take these photos. The other direction? Wellllllll, if you look closely back there we have a gazillion cows, and while I’m hoping it’s a humane dairy farm with fairies and unicorns, I’m just not really certain what they are actually waiting for?? So not cool when you are photographing cute vegetarian teen girls who are horrified at the possibilities of that background. Eh-hem, moving on. (or mooooo-ving on?)
Next challenge: PEOPLE. Everywhere, people and more people. Other photographers, kids, parents, all running around a narrow row of flowers and trying to stay out of each other’s selfies but just looking like floating heads in a sunlit crop … kinda sounds like a movie. So PHOTOSHOP away dear photographer! Or just shout, “spin-move!” and attempt to block out most of the creepers back there, because I like sleep more than I like my editing software in the still of the night.

So, why do it?
Why try to make the impossible possible?
Why fight the hassle and edit until your computer wants to crash?
Good questions.
Because this girl will only be 15-years-old once, and a sunflower session with her bestie is something that builds a memory. A sunflower patch is not for the faint of heart nor does it work for most clients, but we will never forget
snuggling with bees,
worrying about cows,
or finding those insta-perfect poses …
with giggles and warm sunshine on our faces.
That’s the true, real life magic of a camera:
it keeps this memory forever in my heart.

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To see more of Colette’s art, visit makeyourmemoryphoto.com