If you have been around the Internet, specifically social media, you are probably aware of the ghost photo shoot trend. If you have teens or are around teens, or may even be a teen at heart, you have probably gone out to create your very own ghost photo memories. But if you haven’t I am here to tell you why you should do it. 

Creating images of ghosts is exactly where I found myself this year. I am a mom to teen daughters, they are pretty amazing people and never fail to try something new and pull you in that love for something special, like it is a contagious laugh. 

So this year, we did the Ghost Photoshoot Challenge. An opportunity to dress up without having to impress. Just be a good little ghost. 

It wasn’t a challenge per say on taking the photos itself, though I did shoot them fully in manual focus to create motion blur for ghostly appearances. I hear that is all the rage with the younger people. 

The real challenge was finding a light colored sheet that doesn’t break the bank. After all I wasn’t about to spend $50 on a sheet set was going to be cut to create little eye holes for the very human bodies in under the sheets. 

It looked pretty hopeless there for a minute, I am not gonna lie. After all, we just wanted a white sheet. That was impossible to find, be it that we are living on an Island and things are a little more limited, or that we weren’t the only ones creating ghostly images. I am leaning towards the latter. 

A little search later we have settled on the only sheets we were able to found, light gray and now that I took these images I think light gray is even better than white. Please be the judge yourself, though in the end it really doesn’t even matter. Just get a sheet, ideally not one decorated with Dinos or Mermaids, but a plain colored sheet and go to town with it, long enough to at least come down to their waist. We scored a queen size sheet set. I got tall kids after all, but for little kids twin size sheets will likely do just fine. 

From there, cover your kids in the sheet, put them in the corner of the room and suddenly you got a friendly ghost who may, or may not, ask you when dinner is finally ready. But it’s a ghost, so it’s hard to be annoyed over the same old question. 

I am getting sidetracked. Back to shooting.

I really wanted to go to the abandoned neighborhood on Pearl Harbor to get the shoot done, but that wasn’t in our time frame. So we decided on the second best, go for sunrise at a beach. 

Sunrise it was and it did not disappoint. Sunrises in autumn and winter in Hawai’i are just incredible, the sky goes from orange to violet and the most vibrant pink, it’s such a joy just to watch. We picked the beach close to home, knowing there would be a little tide pool and I should be able to catch some nice reflections too. 

In retro spec, I wish I had taken an image of the ghost itself watching them in the waters of the tide pool, like it was a mirror. I might go back for this, but my brain obviously didn’t think about that the morning of our shoot.

Long story short, the whole idea was never about the images. And I may have a bias, but I think the images are just lovely. The whole shoot was about togetherness. 

It was about spending time with my two teenage daughters, just mom and her wee ghosts. 

They were giggling and enjoying themselves, dancing to funky pop and some rock music, playing ghosts as a reminder that they are still kids even though they got a lot more responsibilities now and are on their way to adulthood. Play just never goes out of fashion. We laughed, we talked, we enjoyed a warm beverage together afterwards and watched the sun slowly making her way up in the sky as it turned from black to blue to orange, red, violet, and pink to a new day. 

A ghost shoot, a photo shoot (oh gosh I literally just wrote photo sheet) is not just about the images. It is however always, always about the experience. The memories you make along the way. The photos are just a reminder of the great time you have had. And what a great time we have had. 

Now go out and play a ghost, while it’s still spooky season & don’t get your sheets wet. 

XO Janine