Using Your Cycle to Plan a Photoshoot

What if you selected your photoshoot date using your cycle?

Guest Post by Nicole from Season & Cycle

Have you ever noticed yourself feeling completely different about your business/work from week to week?

Some weeks you’re excited about going to networking events and giving presentations, but other weeks you’d rather be hole up in your office and organize your invoices, answer all those emails or disappear down a creative rabbit hole all  afternoon? 

Or maybe you don’t feel like showing up at all. 

Guess what? IT’S OKAY, in fact, it’s normal and it’s natural! 

The truth is our hormonal changes throughout the month play a role in our communication, energy, creativity, productivity, and much more. 

When we begin to work with these changes, rather than against them, we can optimize our workflow, unlock peak creativity and feel energized about our business more consistently. 

By beginning to notice the daily shifts taking place in your body and then scheduling your days in a way that works with your hormones, you’re able to get your hormones working for you…helping you sustain your energy, creativity and productivity.  

PHASE: Menstrual/AKA your period (3-7 days)  

CYCLICAL STRENGTHS: Reflection & Intuition 

Our period is a deeply intuitive time thanks to communication between the right and left sides of our brain being more powerful in this phase than any other time in our cycle. This is the perfect time to spend time reflecting on your vision/goals for your brand shoot. 

Asking yourself questions about what you hope these photos will do for you, your business, offerings, etc.

This would be the ideal time to fill out your pre-shoot questionnaire or If you haven't selected a photographer, or are trying to decide between a few, it's a great time to do a short meditation or sit down in your favorite place with a cup of tea, tap into your intuition/gut feeling about who is going to be the best photographer and trust what you're feeling. AKA "Bleed On It".

PHASE: Follicular/AKA roughly the week after your period (7-10 days)

CYCLICAL STRENGTHS: Creativity & Planning 

Rising estrogen in this phase can help us feel more creative, open to new things/ideas and is also a great time for brainstorming. 

When it comes to your brand photoshoot this would be a great time in your cycle to carve out some time to explore brand photography you like, create a Pinterest mood board with images that inspire you to share with your photographer AND a fun time to start picking out which outfits you'd like to wear!

PHASE: Ovulatory/AKA when you're ovulating (3 to 4 days)

CYCLICAL STRENGTHS: Confidence & Collaboration 

Your physical energy is at one of its highest points during your ovulatory phase and emotionally you may feel more outgoing, upbeat and revitalized so this can be a really wonderful time to "do the thing" aka schedule your photoshoot. 

Thanks to a boost from testosteron in this phase...the "oh, hello" hormone as I like to call it, not only are we likely to feel our most confident and attractive at this time, what better time to get in front of the camera, especially if it's something that we're not naturally comfortable being in the limelight. 

This would also be a wonderful time to share our new photos with the world once they're ready to go! Make a reel, write and share them via a new social media or blog post, or update that website, bio photo, etc. finally, how exciting!! 

PHASE: Luteal/AKA the week and a half/two weeks after ovulation (10-14 days)

CYCLICAL STRENGTHS: Completion & Discernment 

As estrogen falls and progesterone begins to kick in during this phase your energy begins to focus and turn inward. 

You may notice that you have the desire to get S&*# done…a sort of nesting energy will naturally begin to kick, which can do wonders for your to-do list. Our minds are naturally more detail oriented at this time as well, which makes it the ideal time for sitting down and pouring over all those lovely photos and making your selections. 

**Just be aware that our inner critic can like to show up in this phase, so be kind to yourself, if you start to hear that judgmental voice in your head, I always say to look stop and think if I were my best friend right now, what would I be saying looking at this photo...my guess is it's a lot nicer than whatever your inner voice is saying ; ) 

If you're curious about where you're at in your own cycle and want to apply this to your photography session you can send Nicole a DM to Season & Cycle's Instagram account with the message "Cycle Chart" and she will send you a free cycle charting tool to help you figure it out plus a short video on how to get started.

Nicole's Photoshoot Session

During Nicole's photoshoot we wanted to share photos of her working in person and virtually with clients. Of course we also wanted to show her self care practices of food, meditation, yoga, journaling, oracle cards and even got her dog within the shoot.

I've been networking with Nicole for a few years now and every time she presents at our women networking groups, everyone perks up and is so excited to learn more. The majority of women are not well educated about our own bodies and to have someone validate and guide us is so valuable. I highly recommend reaching out to Nicole and learning more from her about your body.

I can also vouch from personal experience, that my own mini photoshoot fell a few days after I had ovulated and I felt so good in my skin that day. Below are my photos from that day.