Golden Studios hosted our first Pop Up portrait session and it was a complete success! Families, friends and lovers came out to create  memories that they can cherish forever. I was inspired by the old school mall glamour photos of the late 90’s- early 2000’s. Me and my friends would get dressed in color coordinated outfits and head to the mall to take photos and share with our other friends at school. Then we would write some little cute message on the back. That was a time before social media took over. Social media definitely has made that a lost art :(  But we brought it back! We featured 5 different backdrops and shot 15 sessions in total, giving each participant 30 minutes. We also offered wallet and 5x7 prints for an additional fee. Everyone had a great time and you can see that they were just excited to be taking a blast from the past. Definitely something I would love to do again. Check out some of what went down!

First I want to start off by discussing exactly what defines style.  Style is how something is interpreted by the photographer in the way they create an image: whether through the use of camera, lenses, filters, lighting, compositions etc; or through techniques for processing the image after it has been taken. Now for my beginners I will advise you that style is not something that you discover overnight. It will develop overtime as you produce work. And you’ll begin to notice similarities in your work and that eventually becomes your style. 

 When I first started out it was important for me to understand why I wanted to be a photographer. At the time I was in college studying journalism so I was very influenced by storytelling and more particular creating narratives surrounding underrepresented people in the media ie my community and my culture. I wasn’t necessarily interested in the traditional form of photo journalism in fact I never chose a particular genre to work out of. I just shot what made me feel good. I would style my friends and photograph them and I would take photos of pretty flowers you know, anything that interested me. I think thats very important when it comes to developing your own style because you don’t want to box yourself in off jump. You need to give yourself room to explore. 

 Another thing you need to do is think about work that inspires you. Analyze it and ask yourself what about this photo stands out to me? It can be the colors, lighting, the composition, the editing style, the subject matter. How does it make you feel? And you want to take these things and try applying it to your own work and try adding a little twist so that your personality shines through. Also when searching for inspiration look beyond photos. Listen to music, read poetry study other genres of art. Here’s a really helpful tip : while your scrolling through instagram it has a cool feature where you can save photos to a board. Fill that board with images that represent the look and feel you are going for with your images. 

 But when developing your own style there has to be a point where you turn off all the noise. Go out and shoot from the heart don’t worry about who likes it or whether or not it looks perfect. What do you want your work to say? Critiue your work and have your friends critique it. Ask them if they notice any patterns in your work. What are you enjoying the most ? Is it natural light or strobes? Black and white or color? Candid or posed? Men or women? What angle lens is your go to? What genre do you find yourself shooting the most ? All of these elements will contribute to your photographic style. After years of creating others will begin to notice your style too. 

Hey y’all! A little about me. My name is Kyna. Most people don’t believe that so they ask… like kyna fine?… yes! Like China but with a K. Ok.  Disclaimer. I do not aspire to be politcallly or grammatically correct, I just want to get my thoughts out effectively and without feeling like I would be judged. For starters I’m of Nigerian heritage but from Washington DC. I grew up in the NW and NE quadrants of the city. I went to Norfolk State University for undergrad where I studied journalism. I first became interested in photography my sophomore year of college and from that point on it’s been taking all my schmoney. I won’t be saying my age just know I’m pushing 30 and grown. I’m an all around creative entrepreneur but my main focus is photography specifically portraits, editorial and documentary. I recently got my first studio so I’m pouring into building that up. I’m deciding to blog because I want to give people a little more of my insight on different topics and bring y’all into my o so mysterious world a bit. If you been here rocking with me I truly appreciate ya and if you are just joining in on my journey thank you for being here.