She's a Doll ~ A Photoshoot

In another world, she's Barbara Roberts, a 19-year old college student from Wisconsin and aspiring singer, model, actress, and astronaut. 

But, in this world, she's my display-only American Girl Classic Barbie Collector doll.

So, how did we end up here, with her out of her meet outfit and hairstyle undone? 

That's a great question that really just boils down to the fact that I'm hopeless with doll hair. Not so much the styling part--- I like to think I'm pretty good at styling/maintaining doll hair--- but I can't handle leaving doll hair alone. I did it with Kirsten, Kaya, Josefina, Kailey, Marie-Grace, Addy... all the dolls with hairstyles people swear will never be able to be redone. And maybe I'm just vain, but I am pretty good at redoing Kirsten's meet hairstyle. So naturally, when I was checking my doll shelf for dust and saw that Barbie's ponytail was getting loose, researched how the original Barbie hairstyle is done, and said "I got this." 

She is, in fact, safely back in her ponytail (which AG really overcomplicated!) so no worries there.

But, I learned some real lessons along the way! One being: yes, I spent $300 on this doll, but that money wasn't well-spent if I can't enjoy her. The other main lesson was: HOLY COW I LOVE HER MORE WITH HER HAIR DOWN. (That's always how it goes, isn't it?) So, of course, I had to give her a photoshoot.

Miss Roberts in all her glory. :) 

My time with the 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens I was renting sadly ended, but I decided to experiment with my 75-300 mm f/4. I actually wasn't too impressed. Mostly, it had a really hard time focusing. My camera has a setting I use that detects eyes and puts them in focus, and the little eye square wouldn't turn blue. Blue means the eye is in focus. And it's not just because she's a doll--- I always use it and it never fails me, so it's like the lens just wasn't really seeing things. 

That being said, none of the photos that made it into the post are too bad. 

I guess something happened with my white balance, because this picture is so blue-toned. I loved it, though, so I didn't try to fix it in editing. I just kinda applied the same stuff to each picture. It has a dramatic vibe, so I'm happy.

ALSO SPEAKING OF EDITING, YOUR GIRL JUST GOT LIGHTROOM PREMIUM. I got it after I did these, so get ready for my next photoshoot. 😊

I took these in my mom's office because there's a big window and the lighting is always the best. Also the wall with the window has that really cool decorative stuff, idk what it's called. 

Um, Already running out of things to say. I wish I got some pictures that fully captured just how gorgeous her hair is. It's way longer than I expected, and has the loveliest waves. I didn't do anything except twist the hair slightly as I brushed in sections, and it came out SO defined. I was stunned. It's thick, too. 😍 It had been tousled around a bit before these pictures were taken, so excuse the messiness. 

Some of these photos, I'm like "what did I do with the framing?" My excuse is that I was experimenting. I don't love this one though.

Tbh, I'm a huge fan of her eyeliner. People can come for my queen all they want, but I think it's just enough to pop without being obnoxious. 

Oh, I don't love this one either. 🫣 I wanted to try more of a side angle, but it's just not doing anything for me.

I genuinely couldn't find any outfits that were her vibe, but I settled on this dress from Luciana's collection. The black with the sparkles kind of has a Solo in the Spotlight vibe, which is one of the most iconic original Barbie outfits. It's high on my wishlist. I just--- ahhh! I love classic Barbie. All of her outfits are amazing.

Okay, so you can kind of see her curls! 

Oh, I should mention I went to a toy museum last week and got to see a lot of old Barbies! The museum itself was kind of atypical: think a museum in the Midwest in an old building that's just collections and no information and also having an identity crisis. 😅 It was cool though; I know enough about dolls that it kept things entertaining for my mom and I. We saw a Little Miss No Name and geeked out SO hard. (DO NOT look her up if you scare easily. Just a warning. I'm not responsible for nightmares.) The lore on Little Miss No Name is WILD. I lowkey love her because of it.

Ummm what else can I talk about here? I got nothing.

She's giving glamour-shots-taken-at-jcpenny-but-not-awkward. 

Also I just had an existential crisis trying to spell "glamour" because in the United States, we do "-or" instead of "-our", but I don't think I've actually seen it spelled "glamor" before? Apparently it *can* just be with the o in American English, but I... really don't like how it looks. 

And one last picture for you guys! 

That's it for now! Have a great week and remember to eat your veggies! Bye! <3