Compass Home

What do you do when you feel restless and maybe a little bored with your current routine? What do you do when you want to try something new? When you're looking for something out of the ordinary, sometimes you need someone to act as a compass to guide you, right?  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but how do keep that admiration and initial imitation from becoming rivalistic copying?

I think at some point in all our lives we've all started something new because we first saw someone else and admired them. We looked at something and said, "hey, I want to do that!"  I know I have.  This first photo today is a little homage to one of my favorite fashion bloggers, aclotheshorse. I thought since I was already out here by the lake today that it might be fun to recreate one of her photos of this Yumi Lighthouse dress since it's always been one of my favorites.

I've always loved fashion and photography. I first got my start by making my own fashion magazines using those fashion plates from the 1970s, which were a hand-me-down from an older cousin, that you mixed and matched the pieces and then rubbed a crayon over the top to have the outline.  I still have them by the way.

The first fashion photos I ever took were when I was about 12. It was nearly time for back to school and I wanted to see how all my new clothes worked together. What I imagined my photos looking like is not even close to what I saw when I picked up my developed 110mm film prints. It was disappointing at best, so I didn't do much more of that until......

Clueless. Yes, the silly 90s remake of Jane Austen's classic Emma in which the main character, Cher, says that she doesn't trust mirrors. She uses Polaroid pics instead before going out in an outfit. Seemed reasonable to me, and I did think it was pretty effective. No, in case you're wondering, I won't be posting any of those pics.  But it was something I enjoyed and played at occasionally until the baby years.  Many things in life necessarily get put on hold during the baby years.  I don't think I had much time for fashion until my children were five or six years old, but by then we moved to a far part of the country and I was starting to gain interest in fashion again.

My next big foray into fashion photos leads us to the present with ModCloth's customer style gallery. I loved it! I was so inspired by all the creativity and some of the pretty amazing photos there that I just had to try it out for myself. Incidentally that is where I first saw bloggers like aclotheshorse and so many other talented fashionistas and photographers alike.  

I saw what they were doing and thought it looked nice. I used them as a guide to get me started, but, over time I branched out and found my own style, my own way. Now I rarely look at what other bloggers are doing. And I don't really think my style of photography or fashion even too closely resembles others. It's uniquely my style, my photography and my words to accompany them. And that's what the whole goal should be.

So, don't worry too much if you look to others for your initial inspiration, just be sure that as you grow in your craft you find your own style.   It will happen quite organically as you gain confidence in yourself you will naturally start branching out.  After a few months or so (maybe a year or two) you shouldn't still be looking over your shoulder and copying from others. The main thing that keeps something from being underhanded in my opinion is to give the source of your inspiration credit.  If you're letting people think it's all you---then, yeah, that's just copying and not so cool of you.  Keep it honest and above board; no one will think less of you for that. 

When you do look at what others are doing, whether you're just starting out or you've been at it a while and really found your own voice, if possible, try not to look at others with jealousy or rivalry. Don't look at who those people are today, look at where you started and see how far you've come. You have a style and a unique way of looking at the world, of creating your vision and composing your ideas.  Be confident in that.

Shopping Info:  Lighthouse Dress and flats are old from ModCloth, Hat is from: SHEIN