If you don’t have a blog friend, you may not know how WEIRD our lives as bloggers are.
But let me tell you, there are still a lot of WEIRD things that we do, that are part of the job, or that just happen because you chose to share your life on the internet.
While at a favorite local coffee shop one day shooting with my photographer Hannah, it just so happened my blog friend Lauren was there too getting in a little work before a meeting. A part of me was happy she was there not because we could hang out, but because it’s helpful to have someone on a shoot besides your photographer. We found ourselves blocking the harsh sun to get the perfect shot. Yes, that’s what you see above. It took a little help from Lauren to block the sun to get the PERFECT light.
Did we look like absolute fools? Absolutely. Did we get the shot? You bet we did!
After that incident, and also Hannah spilling her entire drink (the cup broke in her defense) and my entire
I also want to preface this with although we do weird things, we also go above and beyond to try to not be disrespectful. We ask if we can shoot here or there, we see if we can borrow a stool. And we always tag/credit the location to show the love.
I think some people can get out of hand and be very disrespectful. Or disrupt a space and not put it back together. You can usually spot a blogger (or wannabe influencer whatever) and I think it’s best to be discreet and respectful at all times!
6 Weird Things Bloggers Do
We have full on photoshoots all the time
To create content, unless you have a photographer significant other, you have to schedule shoots with a photographer. To maximize my time and money, I tend to shoot several things at once within 1-2 hours at a time. This means full on photoshoots in the middle of the day all around the city.
I’ve shot in some random places like empty hotel bars, the middle of the street to get that walking shot, or just on the sides of buildings to get the best light. We do weird things. And we are so thankful for the photographers who help capture it all for us!
Prove Our Worth And Demand To Be Paid For Said Worth
The blogging industry has only been around for barely 10 years. At first, no one was getting paid. Slowly but surely, bloggers proved to be worthy of their talents, their influence and their voice. Thankfully, this has now become a lucrative business for many. I mean heck, I quit my day job to pursue this! However, it’s still hard to convince brands that your time, your work, and your voice are worth hard earned dollars.
We find ourselves having to chase down money we were promised (even with contracts!). Or having to break it down for brands and potential clients that hiring a photographer, modeling for photos, styling a shoot, writing 500+ words and sharing on social media is actually worth money. And that we should in fact be paid (as well as the photographers!).
It’s crazy to think that there’s even a job out there that exists that one has to sometimes BEG to be paid. Or has to explain that work means money. But with this industry being so new and there not being any sort of standards or union, there are people working for free because “sure I’ll take free stuff”. This hinders the entire industry and is something that we fight with constantly for change.
We get changed anywhere and everywhere
Maybe this isn’t EVERYONE, but I have no shame in getting down to my undies in public at this point. Sometimes you just gotta get the pants on to get the shot. It happens. Sure I try to be discreet. But let’s just say, the public has seen my underwear and in several cities as well. It’s fine.
I can’t speak for all bloggers, but most of my friends and myself will pack a few outfits into a one hour shoot with a photographer. It’s just physically not possible to snap an outfit every single day if you don’t have help at home to do that. Plus, it’s just time consuming. So changing my outfit in the car, or behind a bush or down an alley, is sometimes the easiest thing to do than finding a real bathroom or popping back inside somewhere. Time is money and I want to maximize my hour long shoot!
Plan Outfits Based On Backdrops For Trips
When planning any sort of vacation whether it’s a blog media trip (those are trips that brands may bring us on to experience something or their city, etc) or even just a regular vacation, we tend to plan out our looks.
Every outfit is a potential Instagram post which is potential earnings. It’s definitely a great perk to be able to earn an income while traveling. But also, when this has become your job, it’s hard to leave it behind. I personally try to NOT be too worried about it. That’s why I like to shoot with a professional photographer on trips so I can knock out the work right away and then just enjoy and wear the outfits throughout the trip.
But there’s definitely been instances where I save inspirational photos of what I want to shoot in a new city or country and then pack outfits accordingly. By bringing new things, or pieces you need to shoot while on the road, it allows you to maximize your content and share new products with your readers along with your experiences.
It also means you get to generate income through affiliate sales while on the road. This helps us to be able to travel as much as we do which I’m SO
We Get Asked How Much Money We Make Way More Than Anyone Else
As in, ALL THE TIME. It’s crazy how often people have no shame in saying “how much money do you make?” as if they think we’re doing something all the time for free. I get it, you’re confused as to HOW we make money (another common question).
But honestly, there’s a better way around it. Or just realize that if people are working on something and they have a roof over their heads and clothes on their body that they’re probably doing just fine. Or just read this post on how bloggers make money.
I can’t tell you how many first dates I’ve been on where people have straight up asked me “so you make money doing this?”. While I won’t expect a Boomer to fully comprehend it (except shout out to my parents who school all their friends on how their daughter earns a living) I really am still shocked Millennials don’t realize the internet is a way to earn an honest income.
We’ll Decorate For Christmas In October
This doesn’t happen EVERY year. But there have definitely been times that I have had to put my Christmas tree up weeks prior to everyone else in the world because of a photoshoot. Blogs are a lot like magazines only we typically have a faster turnaround. For example, magazines shoot a season in advance usually if not farther out. Blogs can usually turn content around in under two weeks.
But there are still those instances where content needs to be shot WEEKS in advance. It could be for various reasons. From needing legal to review and it takes a while, or content is due to go live at the start of the season which means you have to get it up prior to.
The same also goes for fashion or food. I’ve definitely cooked up summer meals in February and put on a summery outfit to shoot the whole thing for a Cinco de Mayo post. Or whipping up a Thanksgiving side dish in September to send to a brand to review and approve by October, to then publish in early November when “Thanksgiving Recipes” are trending on Google and Pinterest. We have to be ahead of the trends so that our content goes live when people are searching for it to get inspired.
Did you think bloggers did such strange things? What else do you think we do that’s definitely “weird”?
