My Photography Journey + Boho Chic Desert Photography
Many have asked me how I got started in photography so I want to answer in detail now since I usually don’t go into depth about it, or what my major block was in the beginning that I bet some of you will totally relate to. But first, because this fits my story perfectly, I want to share the online gallery of Dutch photographer Anoushka Rokebrand, who relocated a few years ago from her native Holland to the American southwest. She just launched this yesterday, so it’s brand new and I wanted you to know about it first since Boho is a big trend in interiors at the moment and her photos really work great to fit that trend.
Anoushka is a fantastic photographer, I’ve admired her work ever since she came to Hannover for a few days about 4 years ago to teach me more about photography. I remember at that time in my career, I wanted to learn everything about photography that I could, so I trained under Debi Treloar (interiors) while we produced my first two books in 2010 and 2011, Deitlind Wolf (styling) in 2017 and Anoushka Rokebrand (lifestyle, weddings) around the same time, I think 2016. As for the tech part, I learned that through my husband, Thorsten, and from lots of hands-on practice and just jumping in and saying “Yes!” a lot to projects. I also made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, but I don’t devalue any of those or feel ashamed because I know they all made me who I am today.
When we got married, my husband gave me a Canon film camera for our first anniversary because he knew how much I loved taking photos - that was in 2002. My grandfather was a portrait photographer with a studio in his big home in the midwest, he used to take photos of me and my parents (he’s the father of my dad) when I was a child. I was always fascinated by his work. I still have some of his portraits and I love them, they really reflect the trends of the moment and give me special insight into his world and vision since he died when I was a teenager.
I’ve also worked a lot with my friend Leslie Shewring, and always loved her angles and styling, but also how dreamy her photos looked in the end - Leslie awakened a real love for photography in me that was pretty dormant for years because my larger focus was on writing and sourcing content for my blog and books. I’ve always loved photography though, but never really got into it, I hired people to do the work for me. Yet, I found that as I was directing photographers and “seeing” the shot in my mind’s eye, that my frustration was growing. I wanted to be behind the camera. I didn’t want to keep directing people - it was frustrating to me to hold my tongue and I sensed it was frustrating for them to feel my energy - I imagine they could sense I wanted to jump in and do their job. Photography really electrified me, I love it beyond words.
I take photos daily, I use them as a visual journal or diary to document my life but also for my work. I’ve come a long way. But not without a lot of self-doubt and anxiety in the early days.
Self-confidence (in photography at least) was always a really hard challenge for me though. It held me back because I didn’t consider myself technical enough, I thought maybe I didn’t have what it takes to shoot a good photo that would be taken seriously outside of the blog world (bloggers are lovely and very forgiving). Plus, photographers can be very protective of their work, skillset, and “secrets”, which made it very hard to learn in the days before sharing through online classes and workshops became the norm amongst many high-end photographers. I am so thankful that technology changed all of these formerly “closed” ways of working, because sharing knowledge is the only way for any field to really progress, evolve and grow.
A real turning point in my career was when we hired Holly Marder from Avenue Design Studio to travel to Hannover to work with me for several days for my 4th book, Decorate For a Party. She looked at me at one point while we were working (I think it’s because I was so bossy, I don’t know) and said, “Why do you need to hire a photographer at this point, you are so good on your own, why don’t you trust yourself?”. I wondered if I had irritated her. But I hadn’t, at all. She could sense how much I loved styling and taking photos, she felt my energy, she knew it was something that I desired for myself - to take my own photos professionally.
That candid comment was exactly what I needed to hear (thanks, Holly!). It helped me to pull back layers and layers of self-doubt and insecurity about photography. In fact, her comment forced me out of my comfort zone because in the final hour of created Decorate for a Party, our publisher needed a photo for the cover and asked me to create one and shoot it because there was no time to hire anyone. I did it in half a day and the publisher was so happy that my dining room became the cover photo (see it here). What an honor.
I always assumed because I wasn’t super technical, that I couldn’t really BE a photographer. I remember I told her that I trusted my eye, but not my skills and she laughed and said, “Do you honestly think I’m super technical?!? I know how to take the photos I want, and that’s it. Don’t ask me any tech questions though. Just learn how to do what you need to do.” That was 4 years ago, I’m sure Holly is very tech-savvy with her camera today, but I learned early on that the people holding cameras, churning out incredible photos, were not exactly fluent when it came to every feature on their camera.
That honest conversation really HELPED ME to hear from Holly Marder, someone whom years earlier, I had trained to become a blogger in my home was now in my home again, years later, training me and she didn’t even know it. I learned that I only needed to “master” how to take photos in my style, I didn’t need to learn my Canon 5D Mark III inside out and become a technical genius. This was absolutely what I needed to hear to set me on a new path - the less critical, less protectionist path - the fun and fulfilling road of being creative with a camera that I longed for. In fact, the more I worked around photographers and bloggers who made beautiful images, the more I observed half of them didn’t know their cameras thoroughly but they knew how to achieve what they wanted. And that was what mattered.
One blogger told me at a fair in Milan that she didn’t need to write a book about photography, she needed to take pretty pictures. That was her only goal. This more laid-back approach took years of self-imposed pressure off of me. I needed to learn to, “fake it until I make it”, which was so opposite of how I approached photography initially. The pursuit of perfection was stunting my growth, so I started to just take photos more, accept jobs more without hiring a photographer and doing it myself, and to practice my own style daily using my iPhone and my Canon, I figured if I could learn how to use those, I could make great photos too.
Anyway, I digress, but working with Anoushka Rokebrand, who is technical, who does know her camera and how to take great photos, was next-level education for me. It really was helpful and added to my toolset. Every experience I’ve had in the early days of photography helped me to find my own style, build my skill set, and form my vision. I’m still learning and evolving as a stylist and photographer, but I’m shooting for magazines and books, 90% of the photos on my Instagram are my own, and I’m capturing great memories of my life and the childhood of my little boy even better because I’ve invested in learning how to take good photos from people like Anoushka. Largely, I am self-taught, self-directed, and self-motivated. But I never forget the people who had a hand in helping me to trust myself - those special classes with Anoushka and Dietlind and shadowing Debi, and just talking a lot about photography with my husband, Leslie, and Holly.
If you like the photos peppered throughout this post, they were all taken by Anoushka and are available on her website HERE. You can download any of them without the watermark (there is a small fee) and then she will send you the file and you can create your own photos by sending them to a printer or printing them at home… Then you can frame them and enjoy her beautiful Arizona desert prints in your home. I would love to blow up 3 of her photos and put them above my bed. Do you see any favorites?
PHOTO TIP: You can join our #30dayhomelove interiors photo challenge on Instagram this Friday, it kicks off on May 1 and runs daily until May 30. Each day there is a new prompt. You take your camera or smartphone and snap a photo in your home that fits the daily theme and post it on your Instagram and tag @decor8 @myscandinavianhome and #30dayhomelove so we can visit you, like the photo, and maybe if there’s time, we can leave a comment too. The goal is to use the challenge to improve your styling and photography a little bit each day, to make new friends, to be inspired at home, and to maybe even find new corners or spots in your daily life that you love (and didn’t realize it yet).
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What has been your photography journey? Did you (or do you still) have hurdles to overcome? Do you think you have “perfectionist syndrome” too as I once did? Maybe you have to be less hard on yourself, more gentle, more loving, and just roll with it. When I stopped pressuring myself, and relaxed about my styling and my photography, I saw a big difference in my work. Perhaps now, during these corona times, you can practice taking more photos indoors.
Have a lovely day everyone and remember to visit Anoushka’s shop - support small business!
Love,
Holly
(Photography: Anoushka Rokebrand)
