Today I would l want to share the story of how I started this blog and how my style and photography has evolved since then. My decisions, some tips and how I create my photos!If you are interested keep on reading :)
When I first came to Norway I went through a period where I was obsessed with everything crisp and white. How could I not when Scandinavian style embraces these values so much and I managed to land right in the middle of it. I have always been a blog fan and I already had some interior blogs on my feed but I found myself searching for Scandinavian style blogs to add to it. I found so many inspiring ones, all dressed in white and I was so enamored by the style I decided to create my own and document the renovations of my home.
In the beginning of course I tried to only take white on white photos. I would overexpose my photos in order to create this effect that I loved so much seeing from other bloggers. I can't say I was very successful but I kept on trying to imitate the style. I was officially obsessed. So what if my photos were destroyed and grained in the process? In my eyes they were white and beautiful. I was so afraid of darkness and shade I would try to photoshop as much as I could out. I have been editing some of old posts so you will not find the worst ones but if you scroll back at the beginning you will see what I mean. There was a constant thorn however and that was our dark floors. In all the beautiful blogs I admired their floors were white and that was something I could not replicate. There is no chance we are changing the floors of our house or painting them over.
My solution was to hide them as much as possible or overexpose them so much that they would seem as bright as possible. When I tried to hide them I would overexpose my photos regardless in order to make them seem as white as possible and this would result to burned areas in them (either completely black or completely white). Here and here are some examples of what I mean about trying to change my floors in photoshop although these are not the most severe (the worst ones I have already re edited and removed from the blog). The result of all this? The quality of my photos was not up to any standards and that bothered me. It took me many months to slowly realize that instead of trying to imitate something I couldn't have right now, I should instead embrace reality and find beauty in my dark floors and other details I didn't like about the house. Here and here you can see how the floors are slowly showing for what they really are. Also the photos become softer on their own. I finally see value in soft shadows and grey tones. I would have never created this photo or this when I just started my blog and that is such a shame as they are full of colors and beautiful tones. You only need to look at the photos featured in this post today and see exactly what I mean. I still love white and crisp spaces but I love even more natural tones and beautiful shades. There is a place and time for everything and my blog right now fully reflects that. There are white corners and more colorful or monochromatic spaces in my house and I love photographing and sharing them all equally. My instagram also changed to reflect this, you can scroll down and see what I mean although instagram photos are small so they don't reflect how their quality is not up to my standards today. You can see how I was actively trying to change them in order to be white, while today I just let the white shine through rather than force it and let the rest of the details be what they really are. My blog design also changed to reflect this and I wish I had a shapshot to show you of how it was back then! (Spoiler : I will be changing it again soon and I couldn't be more excited about it!)
I have come a long way since I started my blog, but I do not regret the decisions I made. Everything led me to where I am today and I only hope I keep learning as fast and becoming better and better. Nothing would make me happier if a year from now I look back to this post thinking my photos today are as bad as I think my first ones were. I had to take all this journey to end up to how I take photos and edit them today so if I have one piece of advice to anyone starting a blog or just picking up a camera today is the following.
It is not bad to be obsessed or enamored with someone else's blog or photos. It is not bad to try to imitate their style (as long as you don't straight up copy the elements of the photo as well). You will eventually find your own style down the road but you have to keep trying and learn from your mistakes. It is impossible to start at the top of what you can achieve. You need to climb to reach that and I promise you the journey will be worth it.
One last thing...I don't think the journey ever ends.
And that is wonderful.
I wanted to share tips on how I edit my photos also today, however I realized this blogpost has already been so big and I want the editing part of my photos to have its own post. So keep an eye for it in the near future!
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Photographs taken by Katerina Dima unless otherwise stated.
