Hotshot #5

“I actually wanted to move to Singapore, but as life would have it, I moved to Chicago and now I love it here. I’ve always seen myself as a very creative person. My father was a photographer so I grew up with photography and it was always something that I loved. Then, as I got older, I began falling in love with travel. Instagram is like a second job. I feel like I work 24 hours a day. There’s so much behind it. You have to think about the locations you’re going to, the outfit, you have to meet up and shoot, you have to edit, write the blog... it’s so much work. People see the image and don’t realize how much work goes into it.

I’m really not sure how the dress theme started. I like dresses. To be honest, in the office, I usually just wear jeans and a t-shirt. I had one dress that I took a photo with and it worked so well and I thought, “Oh, this is kind of cool”. And I started to twirl and loved it. So it just kind of became my brand. I like when there’s movement in the photo, when there’s something happening. It feels more natural and for the perfect shot, I just need three minutes.

I used to post for what I thought people wanted to see. I stopped. I want to highlight the spots that nobody knows. I feel like that’s the point of Instagram. I want to be myself. Chicago isn’t considered a very Instagrammable place compared to other big cities but I want to prove that it is. @ourfairgrounds is one of those instagrammable places and I love their oat milk iced lattes!”

- Talia, Travel & Food Blogger