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Fine Tuning

Beth Kimber

27 May 2025

Undeniably making more work for myself but loving the process.

I’m always looking at my business thinking “Right; what’s the next step, Beth?” 


Yes, this might give off the idea that I’m never satisfied but in all honesty, that might be partly true. 


I don’t believe in staying stagnant. I’m my own worst critic, as many creatives will sympathise with I’m sure, and with that come a lot of over thinking. “Is this my best work?” “How can I level up?” .. “What’s the next step?” Always moving, always planning for the next thing. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog, to keep track of my progress. As, whilst I believe in always moving forward, I find it tricky to sometimes keep an eye on what I HAVE done that’s worked or not worked…and really delve into it. 


So I found myself looking at my portfolio in April questioning whether the work I was presenting was really reflective of what I want to do. Or how I wanted to be seen as an artist more like.


And to lay my cards out flat, it wasn’t 100% there.


I’d gotten so caught up in getting back into the swing of things, building my network, growing my business that I lost sight of what I wanted to tell as a photographer. 


I quickly realised that my portfolio seemed a bit all over the place and I had two pathways: Editorial portraiture and couples photography. Both with quite different aesthetics. 


I think on reflection, they both visualise two parts of my personality.


I love ‘love’, I’m a romantic at heart. Heck, I focused my dissertation on the psychology and vulnerability of falling in love in the modern era in comparison to more traditional forms of courtship through history. So without going all soppy and to put it plainly- I don’t think I could ever cease my couples portraiture sessions. I've developed a dreamy and light aesthetic to these photo shoots to try and emulate what I guess is my own perception of romance (which is one of the things that makes a photographer, a photographer- perception). So rest assured lovebirds, I’ll still take your pics! 


However, the artistry involved in editorial photography just has a hold on me. I love the drama, the presence that editorial photography has. I feel like I can truly be an artist through the lens, with the model and the light, experimenting with different angles and compositions until I get the big ‘aha!’ moment. I like these photoshoots to be ‘more than’. I don't know how to quite explain it, but I like these images to look a little beyond reality- like a painting rather than a documentary image. Extra without looking over the top, if that makes any sense. Basically, I know what I like when I see it. I’m definitely not where I would like to be with editorial photography, but I am starting to make conscious choices in my shoots to improve…and to hopefully learn how to put my style into terms rather than just thinking of sounds like ‘zazz’ and ‘umpht’ when trying to describe an image I like… 


I’ve realised that there’s a difference between shooting beautiful photos and taking photos for the purpose of how I want to be seen.


I listened to some episodes of  Olivia Bossart’s ‘Fashion Photography Show’ podcast on Spotify. It was super helpful and insightful to highlight where I can fine tune my craft and be more picky with what I take photos of and why, especially when it came to fashion/ editorial work.


So I went back to basics- to quote Michelangelo “I am always learning.”. I’ve found re-visiting basics really helpful, especially when I haven’t felt as confident. It’s always a good reminder of the tricks I might’ve forgotten or gives me the opportunity to understand things in a new light now that I’m ‘older and uglier’ than I was at uni. 


So, to further this, I purchased 3x Vogue magazines from Vinted (we love a sustainable queen) for £3 and took to them, with Sharpie in hand, to annotate all the images I loved. Re-visiting evaluating WHY I liked images, rather than being just like ‘oh that's nice’ re-sparked some techniques to try again in future photoshoots. 


I also re-visited the core basics of fashion photography, like key lighting and composition setups and also just to remind myself of the actual definition of ‘fashion photography’. It might sound over-kill to revert to basics by THAT much, but sometimes it can be so easy to keep looking forward you forget about the things behind you, and before you know it you’re on a completely different track down the wrong path to somewhere you didn’t want to go. 


I digress. 


If you’ve read down this far, honestly, thank you. This is a long entry but a lot has happened over the last month, lots of revisiting and redirection, and lots of learning! I’ve definitely begun to find a style that I feel confident in with portraits, so next month we fine tune, fine tune, fine tune. 




What’s Beth Been Up To?

⁃ 8 x photoshoots including model portfolio updates, Wedding portraits and business portraits! I have probably taken some of my favourite pics to-date for sure, and I’ve been so lucky to work with some wonderful people!

⁃ Updated my portfolio, streamlined my website and fine tuned the images included in the mix to showcase what I want to be known for.

  • I’m officially a published photographer! I’m so grateful to the team at Creative Collective for including 5 of my images in their May issue! Last year I would never have thought that one of my images would be published, let alone 5 full pages! This is definitely a point I feel proud in myself and marks an important step in my businesses journey! Online Flipbook

⁃ I completed my first ever Race For Life! Not exactly photography related but I’ve never been a runner. Two years ago I couldn’t do more than 2 minutes running slowly on the treadmill before gasping for air, an to now have completed 5k is a massive milestone for me! Thank you to everyone who donated and spurred me on through training!


What’s inspired me this month: 



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