Around this time last year, I set up my very first styled shoot (check that out here). I was so thrilled with how it turned out that I vowed to dedicate more time to personal projects. Projects that allow me the creative freedom to explore without expectation. Unfortunately, that personal time is hard to find. Although I set aside a few minutes every week for creative play, it has taken me almost a year to do a styled shoot like this again! 

The inspiration for this shoot actually started with the dress.

I first saw it worn by a guest at a wedding I was second shooting last September. I loved it so much I actually stopped that random wedding guest to tell her how beautiful I thought she looked in her stunning dress! Hahaha, I went home and started hunting around online. When I finally found it I purchased it on a whim. No idea what I was going to do with it. I just knew I had to have it and photograph it somehow.

But the busy fall season took over and my personal project time fell by the wayside. Then January + February brought so much rain. The landscape was so brown and barren that I was uninspired. But when Spring arrives in San Diego all of us photographers grab our cameras! Start shooting anything we can get our hands-on. We know how short-lived the beautiful green grasses and California’s pretty wildflowers are around here. How quickly the summer heat swoops in and dries everything out to dull browns again. 

The day came and it was off to nature. I knew I had to act fast! So I called up Taylor again, who had modeled so beautifully for me in the past. And low and behold…the dress fit her beautifully! My amazing friend Olguta even joined in on the fun!  There were no expectations, no requirements, just pure exploration, and adventure. We went to pick some flowers and have some fun.

I mean really, just give me a pretty girl, a pretty golden dress, in a pretty backlit field picking some pretty wildflowers! Call me giddy! In fact, just give me ALL the Pretty because sometimes it’s pretty freaking fun to shoot “Pretty.”