#CoffeeTalk

On Instagram you stated that you’re broke because you recently purchased a camera. I thought that was real and a lesson on investing in yourself. My question is what kind of camera did you purchase and why? 

I am broke! LOL when I made that video I had just left from purchasing some merchandise that will be up on the site soon and was heading to pick up a new MacBook Air, all of which needed to be purchased in order to heighten my business. I recently bought a new camera around October of last year for several different reasons. If I was going to pride myself on content, the photos needed to be quality. The second reason was I didn’t have time to sit around and wait for a photographer to be available to take my photo. I needed a camera on hand that would allow me to pass it off to my mom, friends or sisters and say “hey, can you take this photo?”. I ended up getting a Canon T5i with the standard lens, which works really well for beginner shooters. I did however, end up purchasing two additional lenses for portrait and product shots. The camera is one part, the lenses are what makes the photos. I love the T5i but will opt for a smaller camera for my next purchase. Having to pack it with all of the lenses can become inconvenient.

I graduate next month and am looking for some cute and sophisticated dresses to take grad photos in. Help please!

Congratulations! I wore a pale pink lace pencil dress for mine and still adore the photos. It was dainty, but “grown” LOL. Here are my picks –

I’m looking into starting my own blog but I’m having a difficult time with installing wordpress.org on my MAC. I don’t even know where to begin when trying to install MAMP because the mysql server is not working at all so I just uninstalled it so I can start over. How did you get past this process when starting your blog? 

Huh?! Girl, I’m sorry but you lost me at MAMP. I never installed anything in order to begin a blog. I simply went to wordpress.com and began there. Regardless of what machine I use (HP at work, Apple at home) I’m able to login online and work on my site as long as I have the internet. Here is the closest tutorial I could find to the steps that I followed, this should help!

Since I have returned home from college, I have outgrown a lot of my high school friends that are still in the Houston area (life happens).  And the ones that I am still somewhat close with, we just don’t hang out as much (Houston is BIG). I am normally busy with my corporate job, spending time with my boyfriend, working out and head-starting a side-gig in real estate, but I am missing a good group of girlfriends to just vent or hangout with. What are your suggestions on meeting new girlfriends in your mid-twenties? I would love to hear your thoughts. 

This is a tricky topic, but is incredibly common. I too have very few friends left from high school and even college… Not to mention I have very few friends to begin with. One thing I can say, is the few friends I do have and have accumulated over the years are all not only good friends, but incredibly ambitious and intelligent. All of my close friendships happened organically and have remained because of the simple fact that we’re on the same wave length. We’re all on similar paths going in different directions, yet headed to being self-made. I met my last best friend on Twitter! Hey Farran! The newer friends that I’ve made since blogging have all been by simply reaching out to one another. A photographer reached out to me asking if I’d be interested in having my pictures taken. I obliged, we hit it off and now we work together all the time. We bounce business ideas off of one another, talk about lessons learned in blogging and will brunch and get out of the house together. It’s refreshing. If there are women you admire and think you’d get along with, reach out to them! Compliment them, let them know what you’ve observed about them that you like and if they’d be up to brunch or meet for coffee. If she’s the kind of woman you want to be friends with in the first place that won’t come off as awkward. A solid group of girl friends is pretty important, so I’d also suggest that you’re very selective with who you decide to befriend.

First off thank you for your awesome content, I love reading your blog! You are letting young women know we can be strong and that strength will not take away from our femininity. My question for you is regarding your Instagram photos and your feed. During your podcast you mentioned that you had a friend take professional photos of you with a high quality camera however I’ve also seen you talk about taking photos with your iPhone. Is it possible to share the process do you have special apps that you use to make your photos look so appealing. If I recall correctly you did purchase a high quality camera however I thought I would still ask. 

Thanks boo! I really appreciate the compliments. I’ve taken some very clear and crisp photos on my iPhone which was a 6 at the time. The 7 Plus will give you professional quality photos every single time. All you need is good lighting and a steady hand. I use the Snapseed app to edit the color and details of my photos all on my phone. When I shoot for the blog I typically use my Canon T5i. It works perfectly for what I need. I have an Eyefi SD card, which allows the photos to go straight to my phone from my camera. The process is pretty simple. I never snap only one photo.. I snap at least 20 so that I have options. Once I decide on the one I’m going to post I open it up in Snapseed to edit it. This includes, brightening it, possibly removing shadows, making colors pop, etc. Then I post!

Do you have any favorite summer maxi dresses out there? I have a few vacations lined up and they’re my favorite thing to pack.

Mine too, they’re so easy to wear. I’m not sure how you’re planning to wear them but I picked some casual and dressier options. Have fun!

Would you consider doing a “day in the life?” post?

I’d be happy to, except my day-to-day life isn’t that exciting LOL. Let me know if you’d be more-so interested in knowing what my 9-5 corporate day is like, or the weekends when I’m a full blown blogger squeezing a million tasks into two days.

Your Erin Condren post was so good! Did you use a tripod to take these photos? Or, did you hire someone? You may have blogged about this previously, but I’d be interested in knowing what or how do you plan and do these shoots (I’d assume on the weekends?) And, if you do them yourself or hire someone. When you do outfit shoots, do the photographers do them for free for exposure? How did you scout out photographers?

Thank you! I didn’t use a tripod and I didn’t hire anyone. Anyone who I consider a friend has learned to take my photos and will report to duty when I ask LOL. When it comes to your dreams, recruit the people who love you to help you. SERIOUSLY. It will save you so much money. I do have a tripod, but I’ve only used it for YouTube and a few up-close still shots. By the time I leave my day job the sun is about to set and honestly, I’m ugly by 6 pm! LOL I try and schedule shoots for the weekends. Some of them I plan for 2-3 outfit changes and spend a few hours shooting. Others I shoot while I’m actually out for the day since I’m already dressed. I’ve never paid a photographer to shoot. Two of my really good friends are photographers and they shot me in the beginning. Then I was contacted by another blogger named Angela, and we began to shoot each other which worked out perfectly. Finally, I purchased my camera so anyone could shoot me when I needed them to at any given time. If you need a photographer, I’d search hashtags on Instagram such as #HoustonPhotographer (depending on what city you’re in) and touch base with them. Some may be willing to collaborate pro-bono but at the very least, you’ll be able to scout the best pricing should you have to pay.

You mentioned you were going on vacation soon. Any swimsuits you’re eyeing?

I’m so bad about this because I don’t like to wear the swimsuit twice. Here are some I have on the way to me + in many carts across the world wide web.

Thank you all so much for continuously reaching out to me. I love interacting with y’all! As always, leave your #CoffeeTalk questions below or send them over via email for the next go round. Have a good weekend!