Today's post is my first collab which I've been so excited for and it's with Solagne from Solange's Bloggin. Solange has such a fantastic blog and her photography is literally out of this world.
For this collab we've asked each other ten questions so for my post I'm showing my questions and Solange's answers so if you want to read my answers head over to Solange's blog to read them!
So here are my questions that Solange has answered and the above picture is of the beautiful girl herself!!
What inspired you to make your blog and when did you start it?
I started watching YouTube videos back in December 2014 and ever since I've really liked the internet. When I discovered the blogs of a few popular YouTubers like Zoella and Tanya Burr, I knew I wanted to have my own blog. It started off horribly though, my English was an utter disaster back then (I was at a whopping age of 13 years young and my native language is German, not English) and the content I put out was not really what I wanted to do. After years of adjusting, renaming and revolutionising my blog I'm now finally somewhat content with it. Don't know how long that'll last though!
What are your top tips for someone who is questioning whether to start a blog?
Blogging surely isn't everybody's cup of tea but if you're not sure whether or not to start a blog - just go for it. There's not really much that can go wrong. If you don't like it you can delete your blog anytime you want.
Once you've made your decision to start a blog, the best thing to do is set up social media accounts for your blog or link your already existing ones to it. Social media is a huge part of the blogging community and it's a great way to connect to mutual bloggers and make new friends. It's also important to post reguarly - something I personally still fail to keep up. I don't know what makes it so hard for me to post regularly but I think schedules are great. Never force yourself to post though - I always say I'd never put a post up I don't stand 100% behind and like.
What's the best and worst things about the blogging community?
The best thing about the blogging community is just the community itself, haha. It's such a positive part of the internet, people writing about the things they love and get exited about. I also love just how open everybody is - everybody is accepted and important topics, especially considering mental health and such, are very often addressed. As these are (sadly) often topics we're rather afraid to talk about in a conversation face-to-face, blogging is a great way of learning, understanding and getting help with any issues one may have.
Negative things about the blogging community? Don't really know, to be honest. There's really not much. The only thing that can be rather irritating is the pressure to be online all the time - sometimes it's hard to tweet every day, post a picture onto instagram once a day and keep writing posts for your blog which has to have the best layout there is.
What gives you the inspiration to take your photos?
My inspiration for pictures mostly just comes from my environment. I see something and I think "Oh, that'd look great in a picture" so I take out my camera and start taking pictures.
Also a big part are photographers I follow on the internet - People like Ollie Ritchie, Brandon Woelfel and Jack Harries are huge inspirations when it comes to photography. I often find myself in front of my phone scrolling through my instagram and suddenly feeling the need to just go out and take pictures of whatever crosses my way - which is exactly what I do (almost) whenever these moments occur.
What are your favourite hobbies or things to do in your spare time?
In my free time I spend a lot of time on the internet, reading blogs and watching Youtube videos. I'm an internet kid through and through, haha. I also spend a lot of time reading book after book after book - I love diving into all the different worlds books can put me in.
I obviously also do things with my friends when I have some time to spare, though I have to admit that I'm not the most sociable person there is and often like to stay in and read or go on a hike with a few cameras and a music device on my own than go out with friends. But when I get too lonely I offend just meet up with friends and hang out with them.
Music is also a rather big part of my life. I've been playing the cello since I was in 2nd grade (which was quite a while ago) and also enjoy playing the piano or the ukulele - though I'm not very good at neither of them.
Obviously, photographing and filmmaking is also quite a huge part of what keeps me busy these days.
What's one thing you want to achieve in the future?
That's a great question - also one that makes me think a lot. There's so many things I want to do in the future. Obviously I want to learn and get much better with the whole photography and filmmaking thing.
As one grand thing that I want to do is my life is to gain a bit more independence (I hate responsibility more than anything and I think that has to be changed, haha!) and move to another country. I've lived in Switzerland all my life and I've always had the urge to get out into the world. It's also clear to me that I don't want to stay in Switzerland all my life. Therefore I would love to achieve a level of independence that makes it possible for me to move to another country, e.g. Norway (beautiful, beautiful country!) or maybe even the UK.
What 3 things make you the happiest?
1. Family & Friends
2. Cameras
3. Music in all forms and styles
What are your top photography tips?
My number one tip is always natural lightning. No studio lights or lamps in the world can ever achieve a look as good and natural as daylight. So I advise anybody to use natural light as much as possible - if necessary maybe use the help of unnatural lighting.
Another tip is that if you're not sure if that one shot is good or not, go for it. I don't want to know how many brilliant shots have stayed untaken because in the heat of the moment I thought it wasn't good. I often only realise how good a certain picture is when I look at it later.
Last but not least: Never ever use pre-set effects that may be available on your camera. I have so many pictures that are forever cursed to a life in black and white because I took them with a black and white filter on my camera that I cannot take off. Leave the editing for later.
What do you think people misunderstand about you?
I think a lot of people find me rather boring or at least uninteresting because of the fact that I'm not very sociable and, as touched on in a previous question, sometimes prefer to stay in rather than going out. Therefore I think a lot of people think I don't enjoy going out or I don't like being with people - which is by no means true! I love being with friends and I enjoy every minute when I go out, I just don't do it as often because I don't feel like doing so (and because anxiety is making it difficult but that's a whole other story).
So as a conclusion, I think many people perceive me as boring, which I don't think or hope I am, because I enjoy the quiet life.
What are your 5 strengths?
Oh geez, that one's difficult.
First, I think I have a strength that when it comes to studying and schoolwork I have a certain discipline that allows me to get decent marks without too much of an effort.
I also think I'm pretty good at making people laugh. I'm absolutely useless when it comes to consoling or helping people with their problems (I never know what to say, haha) - which is actually kind of sad, but what can you do? - but when it comes to cheering somebody up and generally spreading positive vibes, I like to consider myself 'not the worst.'
Another thing - which isn't always a strength as it often leads to disappointment - is the fact that I can easily get very passionate about things. I don't do things halfway - I do things and give it all I've got or I don't do it at all.
(It's really starting to get difficult to think of more at this point haha.)
Okay, so I also think I'm pretty reliable. If I say I'm going (or not going) to do something, that's what I do. I also always try my best to be trustworthy and as far as I know people trust me fairly well.
As a last strength I think it's fair to mention my ability to express the little bit of creativity there is in me through photography and videography. I definitely don't have many talents but I dare to say that photography is one of them.
Make sure to go to Solange's blog as it's incredible and look at her gallery section as her photos are so incredible!
Kate Xx
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Obviously, photographing and filmmaking is also quite a huge part of what keeps me busy these days.
What's one thing you want to achieve in the future?
That's a great question - also one that makes me think a lot. There's so many things I want to do in the future. Obviously I want to learn and get much better with the whole photography and filmmaking thing.
As one grand thing that I want to do is my life is to gain a bit more independence (I hate responsibility more than anything and I think that has to be changed, haha!) and move to another country. I've lived in Switzerland all my life and I've always had the urge to get out into the world. It's also clear to me that I don't want to stay in Switzerland all my life. Therefore I would love to achieve a level of independence that makes it possible for me to move to another country, e.g. Norway (beautiful, beautiful country!) or maybe even the UK.
What 3 things make you the happiest?
1. Family & Friends
2. Cameras
3. Music in all forms and styles
What are your top photography tips?
My number one tip is always natural lightning. No studio lights or lamps in the world can ever achieve a look as good and natural as daylight. So I advise anybody to use natural light as much as possible - if necessary maybe use the help of unnatural lighting.
Another tip is that if you're not sure if that one shot is good or not, go for it. I don't want to know how many brilliant shots have stayed untaken because in the heat of the moment I thought it wasn't good. I often only realise how good a certain picture is when I look at it later.
Last but not least: Never ever use pre-set effects that may be available on your camera. I have so many pictures that are forever cursed to a life in black and white because I took them with a black and white filter on my camera that I cannot take off. Leave the editing for later.
What do you think people misunderstand about you?
I think a lot of people find me rather boring or at least uninteresting because of the fact that I'm not very sociable and, as touched on in a previous question, sometimes prefer to stay in rather than going out. Therefore I think a lot of people think I don't enjoy going out or I don't like being with people - which is by no means true! I love being with friends and I enjoy every minute when I go out, I just don't do it as often because I don't feel like doing so (and because anxiety is making it difficult but that's a whole other story).
So as a conclusion, I think many people perceive me as boring, which I don't think or hope I am, because I enjoy the quiet life.
What are your 5 strengths?
Oh geez, that one's difficult.
First, I think I have a strength that when it comes to studying and schoolwork I have a certain discipline that allows me to get decent marks without too much of an effort.
I also think I'm pretty good at making people laugh. I'm absolutely useless when it comes to consoling or helping people with their problems (I never know what to say, haha) - which is actually kind of sad, but what can you do? - but when it comes to cheering somebody up and generally spreading positive vibes, I like to consider myself 'not the worst.'
Another thing - which isn't always a strength as it often leads to disappointment - is the fact that I can easily get very passionate about things. I don't do things halfway - I do things and give it all I've got or I don't do it at all.
(It's really starting to get difficult to think of more at this point haha.)
Okay, so I also think I'm pretty reliable. If I say I'm going (or not going) to do something, that's what I do. I also always try my best to be trustworthy and as far as I know people trust me fairly well.
As a last strength I think it's fair to mention my ability to express the little bit of creativity there is in me through photography and videography. I definitely don't have many talents but I dare to say that photography is one of them.
Make sure to go to Solange's blog as it's incredible and look at her gallery section as her photos are so incredible!
Kate Xx
6 comments
This was a fun read, I love getting to know other bloggers. I feel like I can relate to people misunderstanding me for the same reason x
ReplyDeleteSophie's Spot
Aw this is lovely! I love posts all about getting to know someone, great post
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love reading interviews/ questions from other bloggers/photographers/ creatives it's so great to find more people! Love the answers x
ReplyDeleteKayleigh Zara 🌿www.kayleighzaraa.com
Great post idea, it was great reader her point of view :) keep up the good work girls!
ReplyDeleteKirsty
www.corinneandkirsty.com
I really love this! It's nice to hear about how other people got into blogging and what inspires them :)
ReplyDeleteI love this collab sm since I read both your blogs! Please do this tag again with someone else such a good read <3
ReplyDeleteMorgan // www.justmorgs.com