BY TARA BURKE

Cailin and I have always wanted to do a carnival shoot after seeing some of the amazing shots other photographers get there. Luckily a carnival makes a stop two minutes from where we live every summer. I’d like to say that we were super on top of our goal to have a carnival shoot, but we ended up being super busy and almost forgot about it. We ended up going on the second to last day that it was open and 30min. before it closed, which in hindsight was probably a good decision because the crowds were gone.

To match the carnival themes I wore my vintage ESPRIT pants. These pants are pretty incredible, but kind of hard to wear on the daily, so I was super excited to pull them out for this shoot. The pattern is made of letters that spell the brand’s name. The letters are all ornate and colorful, have an awesome graphicy style, and are just really fun. My pants also feature a vintage high-waist cut, a silhouette that is making a huge comeback in fashion, and one that I personally love.

I paired the look with a red ribbed front-tie tee from Forever21 and black slide wedges. I also have my scrunchie on my wrist because I always forget to take it off, haha.

Cailin also embraced the colorful carnival vibe with her cool graphic tee. She styled the look with a pair of shorts I graciously gave her that I made for myself last year. I literally never buy shorts anymore, since I just cut jeans from the thrift store that fit me in the waist. I love doing this because I can pretty much control everything about the style…how long (all these shorts are too dang short these days!), the wash (I bleach the dye if I don’t like the original wash), and the detailing (leaving the edges raw and making holes). To finish her look she wore her edgy combat boots.

Oh, and I cannot forget that we both accessorized our outfits with cotton candy! A carnival shoot essential.