How do you dress yourself every day? How would you describe your style? Do you have your favourite brands or colours?
I tend to dress in a rather colourful and feminine way, I like bold and strong colours, and I am especially drawn to turquoise, it has been strongly dominant in my wardrobe for over 10 years. Whenever possible, I always support the creations of Estonian designers, my big favourites over time have been Nymf, Guild and Estonian Fashion Embassy. If possible, I always prefer to wear a skirt or a dress, because I feel more special and beautiful when I do it. You can’t find a single pair of pants among my clothes for more than 10 years. Just some leggings with a different pattern that I sometimes wear for comfort. I try to add festivity into each day to celebrate how special it is to be alive.
Janne wearing Tanel Veenre LIBELLULA WHITE earrings.
Your daily job is to take pictures of beautiful souls and do photo makeup for them. Tell us a little about your work behind the scenes – how do you encourage people to pose? Where do you find inspiration for makeup?
I have been working as a make-up artist for 8 years and started practising photography in parallel with acquiring this profession. Today, female portrait sessions and fantasy photos are my favourite genres. The inspiration for make-up usually comes from the clothes or jewellery that the client plans to wear. In the case of a photo, and in fact, in everyday life, it is important that all details and shades harmonize with each other and form a pleasant whole.
How do you encourage people to pose?
Coaching and encouragement are one of the most important skills in the work of a portrait photographer. The option that I also do the make-up myself suits me very well, by doing this you can establish very good contact with the client even before the photo shoot. Understand her desires and styles and let me get to know her better before I pick up the camera. Posing in front of the camera doesn’t come naturally to most people, they get performance cramps and can’t relax. For this purpose, it is very important to create a reliable relationship with a client who dares to open herself up in front of the camera and look natural through it. Guided photo sessions are very necessary, because the client cannot see herself from the sidelines at that moment, and the photographer’s eyes can be a wonderful mirror of her beauty. At the same time, the profession of a portrait photographer requires being a good psychologist and very good communication skills in order to understand the client’s needs and inject her with self-confidence and make her fall in love with herself again.
What is your relationship with jewellery? Are you an everyday jewellery wearer? Do you have your favourites? Do they have a story?
I am not an everyday jewellery wearer, although I will probably become one soon because I was just given one of the most special rings in my life, which I really plan to wear for the rest of my life. I’ve collected a lot of different jewellery from my travels to take out in more festive moments, but so far I haven’t settled on any more permanent jewellery. I’ve felt somehow freer when I don’t burden my body with jewellery on a daily basis, but at the same time, I understand that they can have a very symbolic meaning and it’s nice to think that jewellery always reminds us of someone or something, which creates a special feeling in us when they have a story behind them. Or we simply attribute to them the exact meaning that we want them to protect and enrich us.
How do you maintain your self-confidence and femininity?
Self-confidence and femininity do not always come by themselves, these qualities really have to be recreated again and again through the gaps between the rituals and thought patterns that have been created. We all have moments from time to time when we just want to hide under the covers, not show ourselves to the world and do nothing, and sometimes that’s what is needed to take a break from ourselves and the world and recharge ourselves in this way. The easiest way to increase your femininity on a daily basis is through morning rituals – for example, spraying your favourite flower water on your face (this is my personal favourite part of the morning), perfume yourself with your favourite aromas, dress in such a way that you really admire yourself in the mirror. Make a nice tea ceremony for yourself, take time before rushing to work and write your thoughts in a diary to make requests and wishes for the day ahead. So to speak, to program yourself ready for the day ahead. It is very important what mood we start the day with, it carries over the whole waking time and we affect all the people we come in contact with during the day with this mood…
Janne wearing Tanel Veenre’s unique earrings.
