Look, I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to many things in life. I rarely shave my legs regularly (even in the Summer), I'm really lazy when it comes to putting the lid back on things, and if you'd see the chaos in our fridge you'd understand why my boyfriend thinks I'm a messy little piggy.
But, one thing I am quite perfectionist with is my creative work. That's why, even though I must have snapped thousands of photos last year, a very small fraction of them actually made the cut and ended up online.
So I thought I'd share some of these hidden gems from the archive that I didn't consider good enough at the time of shooting them.
I took this photo last Summer out on an evening walk. I'd made the flower wreath for another picture the day before, and being the opportunistic spirit I am I threw it in my bag along side with my camera.
I did contemplate wearing it in my hair but I was in a less "bohemian love child" mood and more "grumpy and it's too hot to be inside" mood. Real life isn't always as pretty as in the photos eh?
Looking at this photo makes me think of cherry blossoms and all the pretty pics I see in those dreamy Japanese instagram accounts.
Makes my lifelong dream of visiting Japan even stronger and my heart starts beating just a bit faster. Ever since I was a child I've had a longing to visit that country that seems like utter aesthetic heaven and sushi lovers paradise.
One day my friends, one day there will be a blog post about my travel to the cherry blossom country. In the meantime, a photo of the flowers on our street in Stockholm.
When I was age 11 my family lived in Paris for a year. Sometimes when my Dad would come pick me and my sister up from school we would take the long way home so we could take a ride on the carousel (somewhere by the Seine) and eat popcorn.
Last Summer I passed this house every morning when I walked to rehearsals for a project I did on the Åland Islands. I really wanted to get closer and take more pics from the yard, but being the little wuss I am I never dared to get any closer and this is what I got instead.
Taken at a moment when I felt lost and confused about what the hell I'm doing with my life and questioned what truly is meaningful. When I look at this photo now it feels like I was trying to find some consolation in the non-judgement flowers and plants offer in their silence.
This is from a phase when I wanted take these contemporary-ish fashion magazine kinda surreal stylized photos. Well, as it turns out I'm not really cool enough to pull off that style, and I chose a different path of whimsy instead which fits me much better.
Still, funny to look back at these ideas I've had along the way of my creative identity soul searching journey (which btw is totally still an ever ongoing process).
Another photo from last Summer when i dragged out my boyfriend to capture this glittery dress in the golden hour. This was my "California dreaming" phase.
A photo I did last Summer for one of the first ever weekend hashtag projects I took part in, but ended up choosing a different version of the same idea.
The day I took this I had set my alarm really early because I wanted to catch that magical morning light. Well, I biked down to the beach only to find that I had forgotten to put back the memory card in my camera.. So I had to bike all the way back home and then out to the beach again, and missed the morning light glow... So that didn't go as planned haha.
Still, now when I look at this photo which undoubtedly looks a little flat due to the midday light, I kinda like the roughness and imperfection of it (can you see that horizon is tilted? :)).
From a trip to my parents house in Portugal. I kept chasing this butterfly for hours like a little kitty cat.
When it finally sat down on the window I went crazy and snapped away hundreds of pictures, and then, thanked the little butterfly and let it out the window.
Last photo is from my Grandmothers house, I mean these kind of curtains only exist in the houses of old people.
Everything in that blue house is like over a hundred years old with cracks in the wall paper and yellow stains in the ceiling. Last time I was there I looked through some of the old drawers and found tons of buttons, pieces of yarn, tin boxes with letters and ribbons- truly a dream come true for a vintage enthusiast.
Nothing was thrown away back then and even a tiny piece of soap or used wrapping paper was kept to be re-used, some day. I like that idea of treating even the things that aren't worth a lot as truly treasured possessions.
Do you ever go through your camera roll and find hidden gems that you discarded at the moment of shooting them?