Facetime photoshoots have to be one of the most simple yet creative trend to take over Instagram. It’s a way of clicking pictures through facetime or video calls with your friends while in lockdown which maintains both your feed and safety measures advised by the government! With everything that’s going on at this moment, it's been hard for creative people to explore their creativity. Normally having so much time on your hands would have quiet the opposite effect. But being bound to their homes has artists struggling to stay creative. One such artist, Tim Dunk (@tim_dunk) who had been struggling with his wish to keep shooting while there is an imposition of social distancing as well as the financial stress the shut down would cause to his business. To deal with this, he challenged himself to stay creative and went on to devise facetime photoshoots with #timsfacetimephotoshoots. He even decided to donate £10 from every shoot to the Trussell Trust foodbank charity.

He's done more than 50 photoshoots using his client's help and technology and is keen on doing more. The variations of houses and people he’s shot have kept him and his clients distracted and motivated to innovate with limited resources. His photographs, each distinct from the other have a unique story of isolation to tell. For more of his work, you can visit his website here.

How to have facetime photoshoots?

In a world so technologically advanced anything is possible and while most people find it difficult to operate the same. The answer to having a facetime photoshoot is simpler than you might think and involves an iPhone, Macbook and iOS 11 or a later update. The fun and major part of the shoot is communicating with the client to get the best light, angles, and background while having fun with the poses and pictures. These live photos are then saved directly to iCloud (you need to change your phone’s setting for this step) and edited on Lightroom where he does plenty of editing and adds grains to give it a more lo-fi aesthetic because the picture quality is not that great. He has also urged users to embrace the low quality and click away.

This trend has spread and how?

Tim thinks he’s lucky that this trend caught on and is more than grateful for the love he's received from fellow photographers and clients alike. His belief in ‘community over competition’ made him share his tips mentioned above. Since then other famous photographers like Alessio Albi have followed (@alessioalbi) suit and used facetime to shoot models. Recently, Vogue Italia decided to release a white to show solidarity as Italy was one of the countries cruelly affected by the virus. However their new campaign goes to show how even they couldn't keep from indulging in this trend. The shoot with Bella Hadid that was shot on facetime is an example of infusing fashion with technology and modernity. Even the new-gen Bollywood celebs like Ananya Panday, Athiya Shetty etc. have had facetime photoshoots with their photographer best friends to get on this trend. As talks of lockdown extension continue, Facetime photoshoots only seem to gain more and more popularity with how simple it is to have one. To liven up your own feed get on the phone with your photographer- best friend or you could book one with the man himself here.