September
Happy new month. The back to school flutter has arrived once more. I don’t think that feeling of a new term starting ever leaves us! But one of my favourite times of year is this transition from late summer to early Autumn. A time for new beginnings and ideas to unfurl. The shift in temperature, the misty dewy mornings, the gentle fading colours of August blooms and the subtle change in the leaves. It’s all so inspiring. It’s also a beautiful time of year to take the camera outside, the sun being a bit lower in the sky and its intensity dissipated.
I took my camera to RHS Wisley last week and found a late summer herbaceous border just bursting with all my favourite tones. Echinacea and echinops mingling with the twisting stems of gaura. It was an overcast morning so the bees and butterflies hadn’t woken up yet, but for me it was perfect light.
I have all three of these in my garden, but not together like this so maybe its time for a bit of reorganisation this Autumn.
Inspired by Petals
If you follow me on Instagram you will know the hashtag I created some years a go called #inspiredbypetals and any one who loves and creates with flowers can use it. It has its own account @inspiredbypetals_ where beautiful floral images are shared. I’m proud to be part of a community that inspires and supports other flower lovers and co host it with my Instagram friend Birgitte Fjeldberg @birgittetheresa. I love Birgittes imagery with it’s cosy aesthetic, beautifully styled coffee and bright joyful florals. We met in real life a few years a go when I spent a long weekend in Copenhagen. We drank coffee, ate pastries and wondered around her favourite flower shops in a lovely district called Vaernedamsvej.
@birgittetheresa
Birgitte has lived in the city nearly all her life and knows it so well. She loves all the seasons, but the Autumn is her favourite. We both started on Instagram about the same time back in 2014 and for the same reasons. Our kids were on the app and we wanted to find out what they were so engrossed in! She started off by sharing family photos, then food and then that quickly turned to flowers and coffee. She has always had a passion for flowers so it seemed a natural subject to photograph.
@birgittetheresa
I asked her why she enjoyed creating flat-lays so much. “I just love the process of creating them and playing with the different props and flowers. Often the end result is different to what I intended as I develop my styling through the process. Something I thought would look good doesn’t always work, but it leads to something different which can’t always be seen at the beginning.” I think we can all understand this as the creative journey is often the fun part.
@birgittetheresa
Birgitte creates most of her imagery just using an Iphone in the portrait mode which goes to show you don’t need to have a fancy camera to create beautiful imagery for social media. Editing is important though and like me her favourites are VSCO and Lightroom where she creates her own filters. This makes her style so distinctive and why 120,000 fans on Instagram love it too.
@birgittetheresa
I asked Birgitte if she could share any styling tips with us. “It’s very important to use different textures and props. For example a chunky knit in combination with beautiful flowers and a well made cup of coffee. There should be a balance in the picture so not to heavy on the left or right. Always use natural light which can be difficult in winter so be as close to a window as possible.”
I wrote a blog post on embracing the challenges of winter light last year which you can read here
I hope you are feeling as inspired by this new season as much as Birgitte and myself.
Janne x
