Finding My Colours Between the Shelves
- mdahmed2076
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Inspiration
When I started planning my writer shoot, I knew I didn’t want anything too polished or staged. I wanted it to feel like me. Something honest, a bit moody, but still full of life. That is where the idea of a library or bookshop came in.
Libraries and bookshops have always felt like quiet worlds to me. You walk in and everything slows down. There is history in the air, stories everywhere, and this sense that you are surrounded by voices even in silence. It just made sense for what I was trying to do with Different Colours.
At the same time, I did not want it to feel dull. I did not want brown shelves and flat lighting with no personality. The whole point of Different Colours is contrast. Emotion. Shifts. So I wanted the shoot to have that too. Something soft and still, but with colour running through it.
Roxanne Bennett
Working with award-winning photographer Roxanne Bennet made that easier. She got what I meant without me having to over explain it. We kept things simple. No overthinking, no forcing shots. Just moving through the space, trying things, seeing what felt right.
Some of the best moments were not planned. Just standing between shelves, sitting on the floor, letting the light hit at the right angle. It did not feel like a typical shoot most of the time. It felt more like I was just there, existing in that space, and she was capturing it as it happened.
There were also a lot of small in between moments. Laughing when something did not work, fixing tiny details, changing positions last minute. Those parts kept it real. I did not want something that looked too perfect.
Conclusion
Being in a library also made me think about why I write in the first place. You are surrounded by so many voices, so many perspectives, and it makes you realise you are just adding your own to it. That feeling stayed with me throughout the shoot.
In the end, it felt right. Quiet but not empty. Simple but not plain. Somewhere between stillness and colour, which is exactly what Different Colours is for me.
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