Jamie JeTaime: One Year of Grieving and Content Production

The one year herstory of Jamie JeTaime:

It has been a little over a year since I started this blog. Because of my life moving forward in brilliant ways (no news, but I can feel a positive change), I have had to focus my energy on prepping my house for a potential move instead of creating new content. This is a positive thing, in many ways.

The most beneficial of it all is that it forced me out of my routine of nonstop content creation. You see I started this blog after my brother died in August 2016. He was one of my best friends and the heartbreak is far too profound for words. From past experience, I know that I tend to lose myself in my grief. I needed to have a project to cope with the grief. That project became Jamie JeTaime.

Let’s back up a bit.

People began following me on Instagram that spring/summer because I won a swimsuit photo competition with SwimsuitsForAll in Spring of 2016. I decided to have some fun with Instagram and start posting daily photos. Kevin (my husband) photographed me with an iPhone. It was fun. But then my brother died and I wanted more of a solid project than just fun.

My longtime dream was to create editorial style photos with plus size women. I wanted fun and moody with an edge. However, because I was grieving I wasn’t in the mood for the socializing that is involved with photographing other people. There wasn’t any another option: I was going to become the subject and Kevin the photographer. I didn’t know how to model or act, but decided to give it a go. Kevin became my official photographer without any formal experience with this type of photography after I gifted him my DSLR camera.

I dove in headfirst and became a bit of a robot for content production. A sobbing grieving mess of a robot, but stuck in a routine of production nonetheless. I needed to produce so I wouldn’t break. Now that the grief isn’t quite so heavy, I have am having bits of clarity again. I am very excited to see what I can do when my mind is more focused.

This is a style blog after all.

Earlier this week, we drove up North for our nephew’s birthday. We pulled off on the side of the road for an impromptu photo shoot. This was a needed release from working nonstop around the house. It reminded me of what I love to do. I love to create moods and environments.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that when clicked on may result in a small commission to this site, but all opinions are mine. This only serves to help me continue to blog about style and body positivity.

 

Hat: Vintage
Glasses: 50% tinted glasses from Zenni Optical. I bought them to see if the pink tint will help with migraines and they actually do. Not as much as TheraSpecs or Axon Optics, but they do help.
Jacket: Wilson’s Leather (previous season)
Dress: ELOQUII Mix Print Shirt Dress – You can see how I styled it here.

Behind the scenes:

I love how creating photos with Kevin as the photographer for a year has translated into him understanding my visual language better.  It is difficult for me to verbally translate vision or a feeling I have.  I have an art education and worked professionally as an artist. Relying on someone else to take my photos to help me produce my vision has been challenging. Sometimes the photo isn’t clear or is backlit, or it is compositionally off.  We have different aesthetics.

I have felt like an ogre for barking photo orders at him and then felt guilty when I would critique the photos. After all he is doing this to help me! He called himself the human tripod and assured me over and over again that there was nothing he would rather do than create art with me. Very sweet, but I am sometimes an asshole. However, I think we are getting to a more harmonious place working together and that is a truly wonderful thing. I can relax more. His talent is very apparent. I couldn’t be more grateful and look forward to our photo shoots.

Hat: Vintage
Jacket: Gap (previous season).
Shirt: Joy Division – Urban Outfitters (previous season)
Shoes: KEEN Uneek

The rest is because of you! I never would have imagined that I would have so many people interested in what I do in such a short amount of time. A big thank you to everyone who has shown support and enthusiasm for the past year.  I so appreciate it.

All the best,

Jamie

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