Summer Solstice: Midsommar Inspired Editorial Photo Shoot – Colorpop 2023

If you haven’t heard of our portfolio-building event COLORPOP for photographers – you’re missing out!!! I’m so excited to start blogging each of the 10 photo shoots we organized for our event as a way to share a little bit more of the planning and behind the scenes process. Plus, these shoots were so cool that they deserve to live somewhere other than Instagram.

Colorpop Portfolio Weekend 2023 took place April 28-30 and May 5-7; over these two weekends, 40 photographers of all skill levels and backgrounds traveled from around the world to Utah. This year, our event was more like a retreat – we all stayed together in a big house, ate together, had educational activities in the evenings, and made lifetime friends and connections. Honestly, it felt like summer camp for photographers – and as a retired camp counselor, it was totally my jam. 😉

For more information on our events, CLICK HERE. We’d love to have you attend one in the future! Now let’s get into this concept.

Photography & Creative direction @marinawphoto

Art direction & styling @artdeptcreative

Production @alicebestie

Assistant @sunnyjeephoto

Makeup @amyjomua @sandracfernandez

Hair @byabimarie_ @bbrbeautybyreese

Models @_ericatobias @themodelarach @lilyy.mckayy @nadinebahati

Event @shotatcolorpop

Click here to watch a behind the scenes video!

We wanted to do a creative, editorial photo shoot inspired by the visuals of the folk horror film Midsommar.

If you’ve seen it, you know the film is obviously very disturbing, but it’s also very beautiful, and its vivid color palettes and Nordic themes influenced the styling of our own wardrobe and props.

Probably the most well known visual from this film is Florence Pugh covered in flowers from head to toe, so our goal was to start with our models holding flowers and wearing a few in their hair, but as the shoot goes on, covering them in more and more.

We decided on fake flowers because they’re sturdier and easier to mold and bend for these particular types of arrangement we’re doing, which is a headband, a sash made of orchids, and a large headpiece crown.

The sash and headband were pretty easy to make, but the large headpiece took a really long time. We decided on all white flowers with pops of greenery, and we cut the heads off with clippers and starting hot glueing them one by one to a straw hat.

At the shoot, we had our models hold hands, dance, skip, and keep the film in mind when doing poses and facial expressions.

Here are my shots from both weekends of our event!