With the overwhelming presence of social media in our everyday lives, Instagram worthy photos are a basic necessity for social survival. Coming up with unique photo ops isn't always that easy, so taking inspo from the fashion industry's top influencers is a quick shortcut to the perfect post. Where I live, there aren't very many photo ops to work with, but like everyone else here in Michigan, I try my best to keep up. So when I traveled to Mexico over the holidays, I decided I'd take advantage of the scenery. But after being almost brain dead from finals, I knew I'd need a little help when it came to orchestrating my photos. So with that, I took advantage of my little short cut and ended up attempting to "recreate" five of my favorite models' photos. This is what happened...
Day 1
If you've read my previous article titled, "5 Style Icons That You Need To Follow In 2019", you'll know just how much I love Romee Strijd, so it only makes sense that I recreated a few of her photos. This first photo is probably the most accurate recreation of them all and was surprisingly very easy to recreate as well. I bought similar yet inexpensive jewelry and sunglasses from Forever 21, and luckily had a very similar yellow bikini from Abercrombie & Fitch from over the summer. Although my swimsuit had two straps, I simply pinned one behind my back to achieve a more accurate look. Then, after throwing my hair up in a messy bun, I opened up my Camera App and went straight to the Timer Cam. (When in doubt, always use the Timer Cam when you don't have someone else to take your picture—it'll work wonders!) I balanced my phone up on the handle to our sliding door and after twenty-some takes, I finally got a picture that I was somewhat happy with. Here is the final result:
Romee Strijd on Instagram: “🌻”
Day 2
No surprise here, but I recreated another one of Romee's photos! Once again, Timer Cam came in handy and helped me to achieve a similar but different final result. I threw on the same coin necklaces from the previous photo, white jean shorts, and a plain white T-shirt, and that was that. I once again balanced my phone on the handle of our sliding door, this time in a different room for a slight change in scenery, and after several tries I achieved a photo that I think really resembles the original. Although my recreation is not identical (i.e., I'm not smiling), I think I did a reasonable job and putting my own twist on it. This is what I ended up with:
Romee Strijd on Instagram: “Happy Monday, make it a good one! 🌞”
Day 3
As I mentioned above, if you've read either of my previous articles titled "3 Elsa Hosk Looks For Less" or "5 Style Icons That You Need To Follow In 2019", it's easy to see how much I admire and look up to Elsa Hosk. So when looking for pictures to recreate it was only natural for me to pick a few of hers. Although I couldn't exactly replicate the background of this photo, I tried my best to recreate the outfit. For this shot, I wore my Naomi top from I.AM.GIA, some light wash jeans from Abercrombie & Fitch, sunglasses from Forever 21, and my FILA Disruptors. Now unlike the previous photos, this one was taken by someone else. With almost no camera skills whatsoever, I quickly taught my mom the basics of the Camera App and put my fate into her hands. After a few shots though, unfortunately the sun had completely set and the golden hour had passed, leaving me with no light to work with. Nevertheless, we did manage to get an adequate shot. It's not my favorite, but it works. This is what we ended up with:
elsa hosk on Instagram: “🦋mexico🦋”
Day 4
Another Romee picture made this list. Again, this recreation is not spot on at all, but I can definitely see a large similarity between the two. I purchased a similar necklace to hers and black sunglasses from Forever 21, and I had a somewhat similar shirt (Free People) and jean shorts (Salvation Army) already. Although I could've attempted to recreate this shot at my resort with the buildings in the background, I actually ended up recreating this outfit on a day that my family toured some Mayan ruins, so I ended up shooting there. At this point of the trip, my mom had become a little more familiar with the Camera App and she was able to achieve the photo found below. Although it's not nearly identical to Romee's, I find that it achieves a similar effect while also allowing myself to put my own twist on it.
Romee Strijd on Instagram: “Salt, Sand, Sea & Sun! I LOVE it ☀️”
Day 5
And once again, we're back to Elsa Hosk. The last photo I attempted to recreate was probably the hardest. The shot does not look much at all like the original but I still got what I think is a great shot of myself in the outfit. I threw my hair up in a bun, put on some jewelry and a bralette from Forever 21, a camo skirt from ASOS, a cardigan from American Eagle, and, once again, my FILA Disruptors. My take on her look was a little more casual, and since I didn't have such a fancy bathroom to shoot in, I resorted to shooting outside in front of a turtle pond, where I carefully positioned the shot in front of a wall of rocks. By this time, my mom was able to get a pretty good shot and even though it isn't an exact replica of Elsa's, the inspiration I took from her outfit left me with a photo that I was happy to share on my social media. This is the photo that I ended up with:
elsa hosk on Instagram: “Off into the LA night🌪”
Although most of my photos are not nearly replicas of the originals, the inspiration I took from the outfits and scenery involved in them allowed me to achieve some pretty decent shots while I was on vacation. Using the little shortcut of "recreating" celebrities' photos not only made the creative process of coming up with shots to take much easier, but it also made the process go by much more quickly. Since my mom wasn't the best at taking photos, letting her look at a photo of what I wanted made it much easier for her to achieve a shot that I was happy with. This experience was extremely fun and seeing how close I could get some of the photos to turn out was quite interesting. If you're ever experiencing a creative block or if you need a creative boost to keep your social media up to date, I would highly suggest attempting to recreate some photos. Try it out and see what you can come up with—it might surprise you!
