May Mood Boards

Another month has flown by! As I mentioned in the last mood board post, April is my birthday month. We celebrated last weekend with friends for drinks on Friday and an amazing dinner Saturday night at a local Italian spot. Sam gifted me polishes from the new Holo Taco pastel collection, an Instax, and a beauty fridge! If you’re interested in seeing my thoughts on those items, let me know in the comments below! My best friend Sam (the infamous @somethingaboutsam) sent me the most delicious vegan cookies from Fox Ship Bakery and these things are HUGE! Highly recommend! With it being the last day of April, I’m also reflecting back on my goals and wins for the month. I had another campaign with Adore Me, this time for swimwear. You guys loved the shot I shared this week! I had an awesome collaboration with Time Out Market on Miami Beach and enjoyed a ton of food and drinks while making content. In terms of the magazine, SHE was a huge success -- our most popular issue yet! It was available for print, but we are temporarily taking it off to fix the issues that were brought to our attention. Hopefully it will be back up soon! The next issue, Puddle Jumpers will release tomorrow. I didn’t set specific goals this month, but a recent mindset session with Alex Stacy James helped me recognize the negative mindset I have when it comes to money, and I’m making steps to mend that relationship and make room for thing I’m energetically available for. What’s your end of the month review? Comment below a win, something you’re excited about, something that challenged you, or an area you want to grow in! May, here we come.

April showers bring May showers is the classic phrase. At first I wanted to do a floral board, but I felt as though I’ve done a few explicitly nature-y mood boards. My next thought was Flower Power, like the 1960s-70s hippie movement in opposition to the Vietnam War. This fashion era is marked with vibrant colors, psychedelic prints, denim, bell sleeves, and bell bottom pants. Jumpsuits, flowy skirts, and fringe jackets/vests were popular as well. Don’t be afraid to be bold with colors. Colored lens glasses and flowers are easy props. Perfect locations include record stores, a VW van/RV, or even just a corner in your house decorated with plants. Add a bit of a grain in post production for that vintage feel.

Next up is Green with Envy. May’s birthstone is the emerald. Per The Rare Gemstone Company, “Its iconic green color is closely linked to spring and renewal making it a perfect stone for the month of May!” Inspired by green, curated a monochrome green mood board. I loooove a good monochrome look. The fun thing about this concept is that you can use all different shades of green. Solid colors are usually better, but patterns and other colors are okay as long as they don’t become the focal point. Play with textures!! In the studio, you can either use a green paper backdrop or green gels. Out of the studio may take some location scouting. You may be able to find a green painted wall/mural or a selfie-museum-esque spot with a green room. Even an outdoor spot with a lot of plants could work. Worst case scenario, you can play with the colors in post production to fake a green background.

For the last theme I struggled a bit because I had some themes in mind, but wanted to save them for other months. I was looking through the upcoming calendar events and May holidays and saw that May 10th is Mother Ocean Day! Per happydays365.org, “Mother Ocean Day spotlights the entire magnitude of the body of water, which makes our life possible on Earth. This day was first introduced in 2013 by the South Florida Kayak Fishing Club! Inspired by this day, I created a Mother Ocean board with elegant beach and ocean portraits. This is more of a soft, feminine look -- almost more about the water than the model. Many of these images feature light colored, flowing dresses. This is not a bikini photoshoot; that’s a whole other board for a whole other day. You’ll have to be really committed to getting soaked for this concept. As Mother Ocean Day really celebrates the beauty of the ocean, you’re going to want a clean beach. The best times to shoot this concept will be sunrise/sunset, golden hour, and blue hour (or basically any time the sun isn’t high!).

Which board is your favorite? Which one will you be trying for your next May shoot?