Welcome To Frank & Bloom

Hello! Welcome to my first ever blog post for Frank & Bloom! Trying to keep a lid on my excitement is almost impossible as it’s taken me for-ev-er to get here!

I give up…

“WAHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Moving forward and as you would expect, I will be predominantly using this blog to talk about everything and anything to do with girls. Motivational, inspirational, informative content that I know parents of young, tween and teen girls and girls themselves would want to read.

So, what can you expect from this blog?

On my ever-growing list of things to talk about, here are some examples of what I would hope to include over time:

• Quotes from books I am reading on girls – For those who don’t have the time to read, I’ll dig out the best bits for you!
• Interviews with inspirational girls
• Interviews with social media influencers
• Behind the scenes vlogs straight from my current shoots
• Inspirational organisations and events geared to supporting and encouraging girls
• Guest bloggers – young, tween and teen experts discussing anything current and relevant to what parents with girls, and girls themselves are going through today
• Anything I know that parents of girls will find interesting

As this is my first ever blog, I want to explain the foundations of why Frank & Bloom was created…

So why Frank & Bloom?

Three years ago, I was in full swing with my family photography business Jo Temple Photography. I noticed the girls within the families were often the ones who struggled the most in front of the camera. Their body language often suggested an internal battle with how they thought they should look and pose, as opposed to just being themselves. It was very frustrating and quite honestly made me a little sad. Any images I caught of them when unaware of the camera always appealed the most to my clients, so naturally I developed a way of interacting with them to enable me to capture more of those photos. I became fascinated with the psychology of why it was so hard for girls to visually speak their truth, and why it mattered so much to them.

It was around that time I came across an amazing lady who had created a course for photographers. The course was called ‘That Thing You Do’. Through the course she encouraged me to find a niche within the photography industry that spoke my truth! She is 100% focussed to authenticity and about building a brand that is open, honest and transparent about who you are, what you do and why you do it. My niche evolved throughout the course and eventually became ‘to capture girls being themselves between the ages of 4-18’.

Why just girls?

Well, first and foremost, I was one. A quiet and deep thinker, I listened more than I talked. My parents got divorced when I was seven and at 13 I moved from the UK to North Hollywood, at the same time doing my best to navigate the incredible influx of new hormones. I knew no one at my new school and I was put into classes with kids 2 years older than me, being told on my first day to avoid wearing blue and red because of the gangs! In my teens I suffered with anxiety attacks. I used to hyperventilate a lot and I developed M.E. (or chronic fatigue syndrome) when I was 15, barely scraping through my GCSE’s.

Despite all of the above and intertwined with it, I had amazing friends at school and a fantastic support mechanism around me. My wider family were very close and there were many strong female figures throughout – Mum, Gran, aunties, great aunties, girl cousins. We all sung each other’s praises and encouraged each other to succeed. Our differences were celebrated and I was never made to think I was better or worse than any of my girl cousins. I was me and that was enough. I believe this support, love and encouragement is what helped me through the the challenges I met along the way. That’s the world I grew up in and it is my profound belief and view of other girls and women today… You are enough.

So here I am. This is me and this is Frank & Bloom – a photography experience dedicated to girls being themselves.

Any frequently asked questions can be found here.

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I’ll be back soon.

Jo 🙂

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