Color Theory Editorial: Chelsea Grey

Color Theory: Chelsea Grey | Sarah Bradshaw Photography

Some of the biggest challenges that creative entrepreneurs face can be summed up in our name— CREATIVE says that we thrive on using our artistic capacities to create beautiful things for our clients, ourselves, and the world at large. ENTREPRENEUR says that we also live and breathe (and sometimes bleed and die) business management, spreadsheets, and profit-loss statements, that we are never not thinking about driving our small businesses forward, innovating, designing better systems, better workflow, better customer experiences, faster turn-around times, more commerce, better profit margins, etc etc etc.

To be a creative entrepreneur means to be both an artist and an analyst, to live every day using both sides of our brains (regardless of the side toward which we most naturally lean), to thrive on the always thinking, and to be both very good and very bad at a lot of things (sometimes the same things) at the same time.

It’s very confusing. Believe me, I’ve been living this beautiful, messy jumble of a job for more than a decade. My brain is a crazy happy place to work. Emphasis on the crazy.

I sat down at the beginning of 2018 to look over my goals for the year, and one thing quickly became clear— I’ve focused a lot of the past several years on the “Entrepreneur” side of my job description. And I’m quite proud of that fact! I absolutely adore being a business-owner… and I’m really good at it. The spreadsheets, analyzing numbers, sales predictions, etc., these things bring me great joy and satisfaction, and I’m really proud of the company that I’ve built. But I’ve somewhat neglected the “Creative” side of my job description. I’ve invested a ton into myself as a businesswoman, but not much into myself as an artist.

So I wrote up a plan to change that. There are a number of things I’m doing to help foster creativity, but one of them is designing and executing editorial shoots just for me, without anyone else to please. I decided to begin a personal project series, a set of shoots focused on color theory and fashion-inspired posing, rather than wedding day inspiration. The basic concept is to have the background, clothing, decor, jewelry, furniture, and props all in the same or similar color tone, and to create contrast with the model herself.

Allow me to introduce you to my first one: Chelsea Grey.

This was my inspiration board:

I designed and executed this one all on my own, and I’m quite proud of how it all turned out, for a first try. My friend Chelsea modeled for us, Carine’s Bridal let us use two of their stunning gowns, Sweet Root Village welcomed us into their studio space, and all of the props and art I brought from my home (I’m a maximalist who loves comfort and antiques, can you tell??).

See full vendor list here:

I’d love to hear thoughts on this shoot.. and can’t wait to share more from this series!! I have one more to share, and three more scheduled for the next few months!

Color Theory: Chelsea Grey | Sarah Bradshaw Photography