Vintage Birthday Party Editorial Shoot – Colorpop 2022

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 2022 took place July 22-24 and August 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: MARINA WILLIAMS

ART DIRECTION: ASHLEY ISENHOUR

MAKEUP: SANDRA FERNANDEZ

MODEL & WARDROBE STYLING: HANNAH RUTH ZANDER

EVENT: COLORPOP PORTFOLIO WEEKEND

The make-believe story that inspired this concept: It’s 1950 and no one showed up to her birthday party 🙁 Our goal was for the set to look like she was hanging out in her living room by the phone, waiting for her friends to show up. We had a cake that said “I’ll cry if I want to” along with balloons, playing cards, candles, confetti, and silk pajamas for a slumber party vibe. Our model Hannah is a talented wardrobe stylist and has the cutest vintage personal style as well – we knew her look would be perfect for this shoot!

This was a really fun one because it allowed all the photographers that were there to get creative with the props however they’d like – it was awesome to watch them throw the balloons and playing cards in the air, wrap the telephone cord around, and encourage her to dig into the cake at the end. Hannah stayed in character the whole time, and did an amazing job giving us pouty, sad, cheeky expressions that told the story.

Here are how some of my own favorite photos turned out!