Blog Tips: How I Location Scout For OOTDs

Have you ever looked back at older blog posts and wondered 'what was I thinking?' Although I'm always up for a good stroll down memory lane, sometimes looking back at older blog posts can be painful. I started blogging in 2013, and until about 2015-2016 I took every single one of my outfit photos in front of a white brick by my old apartment building. Every single photo! While I'm glad that I actually got the guts to go outside and start documenting my outfits, it took so much longer to step out of my comfort zone of the white wall and start shooting in different locations.

Now I truly believe that the location of your photos is just as important as the outfit itself. I like to think of each photo, each blog post as a visual story and the backdrop can add just as much to the story as the subject itself. I love seeking out different locations to help to add to every photo, but it definitely does get difficult - certainly harder than just going downstairs to shoot a photo against a white brick wall! Here are some tricks and tips that I've picked up while hunting for photo locations that I hope you'll find helpful.

1. Look At Your Surroundings With A New Lens

Sometimes the best locations are right under your nose, it just takes shifting the way you look at things to find them. Take a long walk through your area, but look at everything through the lens of a photographer. Start to notice things that would otherwise go unnoticed on a day-to-day basis: the colour of a wall, the way the sun hits an alleyway, the architecture of a building. If you see something that could work for photos, snap a photo with your phone and save it into a separate folder for locations. I've done this in my own area a few times, and am still finding little nooks and crannies that work for photos, and I love having a catalogue on my phone to scroll through when I'm planning photo shoots. Once I started actively seeking out different locations for photos and changed the way I looked at an area, I was pleasantly surprised by how much variety was available.

2. Think Outside Of The Box

When you think 'blog photos' the first thing that comes to mind is a wall. While I definitely still love a good wall for photos, there is so much for available! Take restaurants or cafés, for example. A beautifully decorated, light-filled café is a great backdrop to shoot an outfit. Salons, bars, hotel lobbies - anything really! A good rule of thumb to follow if you want to take photos in a place of business is to always reach out to them to ask permission first. Sometimes I've even arranged to go in 10 minutes prior to opening so that I can take some photos without disrupting their business. Make sure to credit and tag the location in your photos to spread the love!

3. Start Travelling With Your Camera

I made a pact to myself about a month ago that I would start carrying around my proper camera with me everywhere. Since doing so, my content for my blog and social media has increased so much! Yes, it is annoying - my camera and lens in particular is an absolute beast and extremely cumbersome to carry around. The reward, however, has been so worth it since I can get photos in the moment and can capture your outfits in real-time.

4. Have A Few Go-To Areas For Photos

As ambitious as I try to be with finding new areas to take photos in, sometimes you're just not feeling it. It happens. In these cases, I have a few different locations in my area that are close to my condo, don't have a lot of people walking by and are generally just easy to shoot in. Having some easy locations to shoot in for when you're not feeling particularly inspired is a great way to get the job done, and always making sure that you have new and fresh content for your blog and social media.

I hope that helps give you a look into what goes through my head when I look for locations to shoot photos, and my process! Are you as crazy about photo locations as I am? What do you look for when taking photos?  Let me know!

xo Joëlle

These photos were taken on the same day, at Andrew's Scenic Acres in Milton and Café Cancan in Toronto.