 Hey y'all, what's up? My name is Sonali. Welcome to a new vlog. It is Friday. If you guys are new here, definitely hit that subscribe button. I have a new goal for the year, so I want to get to like 30k subscribers by June. I feel like we can make it happen, so if you guys are watching this, hit that subscribe button, and if you are already subscribed, definitely make sure that your post notifications are on, so you can get notified for every video I post. Today we're doing kind of a different video. I've been wanting to go out in public and take my own photos for so long, and I feel like today is the freaking day that I just do it and just fake it till I make it. That's what I always say. If you guys didn't know, I do live in Austin, Texas, and I am a freelance photographer on the side, so I've shot at this one parking garage downtown. It's near that rainbow mural that like goes all the way up, and I've shot there before. It has a really cool city background. I feel like that is the new trend to take your photos, your Instagram photos at a parking garage, and it's so funny because I used to do that all the time in college with my best friend Laura, which was also my roommate. We would just get dressed, or if we were going to go somewhere, we would just run up to the parking garage and take our photos. And it's just a really great place because, one, it's neutral. Two, there's not that many people staring at you. Sometimes a car will drive past, and that's kind of awkward, but you kind of have to get over it. And that is when my motto comes in, fake it till you make it, you just kind of have to fake your confidence. It is going to be a little nerve-racking going along to a parking garage because I do not do well just being alone in general, and that is a big reason why I want to push myself to do this because I feel like I just need to get out of that rut, get out of my comfort zone, and just push myself. A major reason why I'm doing this is because I used to actually shoot with my friends. I would take their photos, and they would take my photos. We'd do a little swap. We would bring four outfits, or a little less than that. We would just change in our cars, go to a different location, do it all again, which is great because we would shoot in really busy areas, and it wouldn't be as awkward as setting up your tripod and taking your own photos. Right now, all my friends' schedules are just really busy, and a lot of them work full-time. I only work part-time, so I work Monday through Thursday, 7 to 3. Basically, it's just really hard to schedule time to shoot with my friends because the only time that they have now is on the weekends, and that's the time I kind of just want to spend with Ryan or doing fun stuff and not really working. But obviously, sometimes I know I'm gonna have to resort to that because taking pictures of yourself is great, but getting your photos taken is even better, obviously, if you have the chance. I'm super thankful that I actually got three PR packages today, well, not today, but throughout this whole week, and I've been saving them to style today. So I have stuff from Princess Polly, Wave, and Shop Red Dress. So I'm really excited to style all of them and just get this thing going. If you guys don't already follow me on Instagram, go ahead and do so, it's so underscoringarly without the G, and I will be releasing my preset super soon. I just have to sit down and do it. I have some presets on my site, but honestly, I don't really recommend them now because that was the era of really editing your photos, and now it's more of a bare, filmy edit. So I've created my own preset, and I will get that out by the end of the month. When you look at my Instagram, you can kind of tell that I have been making the switch to wearing more neutrals and just getting really quality pieces. I also link everything on my Like to Know page, so if you guys are wondering where anything's from, it's pretty much always on that page. Or you can just DM me and ask for the link. I am more than happy to help out. I'm gonna stop rambling so we can get this thing going. This is one of the outfits that I'm thinking of bringing. I've seen this little sweatshirt kind of tied on Instagram, and I love the look of it, so I wanted to try it out. I recently went on Urban Outfitters and bought literally four jeans. These are the only ones that came in, though, so far, but these are straight-leg jeans. I'm pretty sure all of them are straight-leg jeans, just a little bit different colors and different rips and everything. I'm on the hunt for the best straight-leg jeans, so let me know if you guys have any recommendations. I do have some from Abercrombie, and I love them, but I just honestly want more jeans because I feel like I wear the same ones every single day. So pick these up. I think I like them, so I'm gonna take the tag off and not return them, but we'll see about the other ones. Hopefully they all look really good. This is currently my room. It is a freaking disaster. Just kind of trying to pull some stuff to see what I can style. I picked out, like, six or seven outfits. I kind of want to even bring more because I feel like it's gonna go fast because it's only gonna be me. I'm finally gonna do my makeup. It's, like, almost 2 p.m. I'm kind of getting hungry, so I might have to eat up for this. Thank you. Now I just wet my beauty blender. It's almost three. I'm already hair done, makeup done, everything. I'm freezing, so I put on this jacket, and I'm a little worried that it's gonna be even more cold in a parking garage because, like, the sun's not gonna be beaming down. I mean, it will at the top, but I don't want to do, like, too much direct sunlight unless it's, like, sunset, which that's, like, in two hours or something like that. So I might just wait it out and go at four. I don't really have anything to do right now, and I have everything ready, so I might go earlier, but I'll keep you guys updated. I honestly have butterflies. I'm a little nervous. I just, like I said, don't like being alone. I have everything packed and ready to go, so let's do it. Okay, y'all, I literally have butterflies. I don't know if it's, like, a nervous pee feeling, or if I'm just nervous that I'm gonna get kicked out. I've shot here before, and I've literally done, like, photo sessions that, you know, obviously make me money, and some girl from the parking garage was, like, walking and, like, staring at me, but never said anything. So I feel like it's okay, and when I shot, there was, like, a billion people on the top part of the garage, just, like, filming content, which is kind of cool. Kind of hope that happens again, kind of not, because, like, I don't know. I don't know. It would be nice if I was the only one here, but also it kind of feels like, ooh, we're all creatives, and we're doing our creative thing. Like, procrastinating getting out of my car, but let's do it, y'all. The worst thing about taking pictures and changing in your car is not being able to see your whole outfit. Should have brought, like, a small mirror or something, but this will have to do. Things are looking good. There's no one here, but me, so about to set my tripod up. I noticed that the light was hitting one side of my face, so I decided to just switch the position of the tripod. I usually tend to shoot backlit, because I find that this is easier for me to edit personally. Don't be discouraged if you feel a little awkward during your first round, because it will happen. Just keep going, and you'll listen up. I promise. First round of photos, and I'm feeling honestly empowered. Like, that sounds stupid, but it is empowering. Coming out here, taking your own photos, not having to rely on anyone else, not having to ask anyone else, not having to pay anyone else. Like, I'm doing it. This is all me, and I'm freaking hyped that I decided to do this. I also wanted to take this quick second to tell you guys about this amazing app that you need on your iPhone, like, yesterday, honestly, especially if you're into Instagram. Kind of windy out here. But it is this app called LensBuddy. It's an app that pretty much takes your photos for you, so you don't have to have a clicker. You can just keep posing, keep moving, and it'll refocus for you every single time. It is so cool. I recently found out about it in the past two months, and it literally has changed the game for me. So I highly recommend it. You can set how many photos it takes of you every round, and, like, how much it delays at first. It's very customizable, and then after you take them, you can just, like, look through and then see if you need another round. So I highly recommend that you download the app. Again, it's called LensBuddy, and now I'm going to go for my second round. Let's do it. I recently heard that making a triangle with your body is a flattering pose, so that is what I'm trying to do with this flamingo pose right here. After every round, I adjust my tripod to get a different angle, and then the biggest tip I can give you is just to keep moving, keep taking pictures, and you'll be sure to find one that you like. I highly recommend giving yourself a limit of how many rounds you can do to make your shoot efficient, and also not to be too critical of yourself, because I feel like this vibe is not supposed to be too perfect. It's supposed to be, like, iPhone photos. It's supposed to be kind of, like, real. Yes, your pose, but also movement helps so much to create a candid photo, so that's why you see me going like this because I'm trying to get my hair to move. We're stepping forward when the picture is taking and just, like, moving my arms around a lot. Trust me, guys, movement is key to not look stiff in your photos, and also just remember to turn your sound all the way up so you can hear the camera taking the pictures so then you can, like, go into your next pose. I just changed into the second outfit and I forgot a butterfly clip. The guest was in the back of my car. There's one airing, so I'm going to try to use the airing because this top is a razorback, so I don't want my brother show. I actually have a pop-up tent, like a pop-up changing tent. It's green. It's huge. It's really obnoxious, so sometimes I just, like, don't love using it, especially if I'm just, like, the only one taking photos. I can just, like, push this front seat up a lot and then just change in the back of my car. But I will wing that green pop-up tent down below in case you guys are interested. You ever see trends on Instagram and you're like, how do they make it look so cute? Because that airing just popped up. It might be a clock-clip outfit. For the next outfit, I took on the challenge of shooting in direct sunlight, and really, it's the editing that is the main issue. It's just a little bit harder, especially if you want to stay consistent with your skin tones on your feed. You might be able to tell I'm a little bit stiff because somebody came onto the rooftop, so I got a little embarrassed. During that last round, a guy pulled up in his truck and just, like, parked. I can't really tell if he's, like, sitting there or not. I immediately got so awkward, but then I was just like, you know what? Gotta get these photos done. I'm gonna go in my bubble and just not even think about him or if he's sitting there or if he was there or if no one even came. You know what I mean? That's why I was trying to tell myself. So now I'm in my third look, and I feel like this is going by so freaking fast, so this is awesome. The last look, I did it in the sun, so I think I'm gonna switch it up and do it in the shade this time. I also wish I could play some kind of music, but obviously, since I'm using my phone, I don't think that's really possible, so that sucks. I might play around with the wide angle on the Lensbuddy app because if you just, like, do that with your fingers, or this one, I don't know. If you pinch it in, you know, pinch it out, it, like, zooms out and zooms in, especially if you have, like, the newer phones with the wide angle lens. The only thing is that if you use the wide angle, it just, like, decreases the quality in half, I feel like. But if you're in good light, sometimes you can't really tell, so I might play around with that when I'm, like, in the direct sun again, but for now, we're gonna keep it simple. I feel like a lot of these walls in the parking garage are gray, and other people's parking garages are, like, painted white. I'm just like, where can I find that? Because I want that. So this is, like, the only white wall I see. So let me use it. Let's do it. I'm so sad that this clip is blurry because it was my favorite outfit, but these photos I took were iconic. I'm gonna take a pause on filming because the sun is actually going down. I literally lost track of time, and there's another photographer out here, though, so it makes me feel not alone. Not as alone, I guess. As you can probably tell, I tried to switch up the background as much as possible, so I took it up to the upper deck and shot in front of the city this time. The other photographer and I actually ended up talking because he's a Sony user, and I am too, so we got to talking, but then I was like, I gotta get in one more outfit before the sun goes down, so let's do this. My second biggest tip is to use props in any way that you can, whether that's bringing accessories, bags, sunglasses, anything like that, or just using the environment around you. As you can see, I propped my hand up on this wall, and that made the pose a little bit more relaxed and not as awkward. Crash, my freaking photo shoot. How'd you even know where I was? How are you doing, River? I'm not here. I'm supposed to be doing this alone. They turned out really good, babe. You shouldn't be proud of me. Could you do my hacking? Okay, well, I need to take the thumbnail real quick for this video. I'm gonna sit up here. Oh, no. Yeah. I freaking did it, y'all. I took photos all by myself alone, even though Ryan's here now, didn't even know he was showing up, but that doesn't really count. I'll try to post a little slideshow of all the pictures, and my preset on top of them, because I'm gonna launch that soon, swear, by the end of the month, it'll be out. I highly recommend y'all do it, too, because, like I said, it's first, it's empowering. Second, you get Instagram photos, especially if you are an influencer blogger. Just do it, you know? Just freaking do it. I'm definitely gonna do this a lot more often. Unfortunately, I didn't get to all the outfits. I think I did five, though, which is really good still. And if I do this once a week, that is a lot of freaking content. I would definitely want to spread it out, because I don't want all of my grid to be this parking garage, you know? But this content will be perfect for the in-between, everyday stuff. I will try to have all the outfits linked down below if you guys are interested, and all of my equipment, I'll have the tripod, and then this phone stand thingy-ba-bob. Also, if you guys are wondering, I shoot with a 12 Pro Max. And maybe next time, I'll bring my camera out here, but I don't know. The iPhone was really great, and I also tried out flipping the camera, and using flash for the sunset, and that looks really cool. I hope you all enjoyed this video and got inspiration for you to do a parking garage better than you, or anywhere, honestly. And I will see y'all in my next video. Bye!