By way of general explanation for those of you who might not be aware before we get started, bookstagram is a hashtag that is used on Instagram. It’s become the overarching terminology used to describe the greater book community on the social networking site. No matter if you’e snapping photos of Young Adult novels, chatting about the latest Suspense/thriller offering or sharing your love for the latest romance novels being published, Bookstagram offers an all-ecompassing environment to engage your visual senses and find new friends who appreciate the same books you do.

I’ve really grown to love my Bookstragram account over the last year of blogging. Before I started blogging, I had never used Instagram. I didn’t have a personal account – still don’t, actually – and I might have not been entirely clear on the purpose of hashtags at that time… But, I’ve enjoyed the heck out of learning and trying to improve.

I’ve always appreciated Bookstagram for what it provides this blog visually. I like being able to incorporate my photos into my posts. Plus, I’ve come to really enjoy the hobby that book photography has become for me. Seriously, I go all out. This is a photo Mr. Bastion recently took and posted on his own Instagram account of me setting up a shot:

I miiiiight be slightly obsessed with this hobby!

I’ve taken over 100 photos now, using my coffee table as a backdrop. It’s become my unintentional theme, before I even knew what a theme was. That being said, I’ve decided to change my theme up and before I reveal the new look, I wanted to count down my top 10 favorite photos I’ve taken thus far!

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Top 10 Bookstagram Photos

10.

My very first photo I ever posted! It has to make the list! It’s vastly different from every other photo I’ve ever taken, but I’m still proud of the attempt at joining in.

9.

Another very early photo, this time of Hunted by Meagan Spooner. I enjoy the angles and colors in this one even still, and it was when I first began to realize that if I pulled my camera away from the cover of the book, I might one day take a halfway decent photo.

8.

This photo of Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo was really when my theme began to establish itself, and is replicated in similar ways from this point on.

7.

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. Another exploration of how I could vary color in my photos. This time with green.

6.

The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. This photo just screams springtime to me, which was so necessary after the near neverending winter we just experienced.

5.

The Child Thief by Brom. This one holds a special place in my heart because this is also one of my favorite books!

4.

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. This one was a coordinated effort with Mr. Bastion. I made him blow out the candle so I could focus on trying to capture that smoke billow. Came out pretty cool!

3.

I appreciate this one because it was the first that I began to explore including more than just one book in the picture. It gives an instagram shot a really neat depth that I’ve come to appreciate.

2.

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo. I love this for the inclusion of my favorite set of bookends – that octopus in the upper right corner. It’s a showstopper on my bookshelf and I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to use it!

1. 

My favorite shot of all time has got to be the one I took for The Shape of Water by Guillermo Del Toro and Daniel Krause. I just love the layout of this photo, and how the beads look like water droplets. It was really the first time that I’ve been truly proud of a photo I took.

But, that being said, all things must end now it’s time to reveal the ways in which my Instagram has changed!

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Theme Reveal!

I’ve been dying to change things up. One thing I noticed with bookstagram, is that over time I really felt like I was beginning to overload my photos with props. I sort of wanted to pull back from that a bit and try starting fresh with a clean slate. I hope you all like it!

If you do like my photos, and we’re not already following each other on Bookstagram, reach out and let me know! My bookstagram is @bookbastion, should you want to look me up!

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What do you think of my new theme? Are you on bookstagram? Share a link to one of your favorite photos you’ve taken with me!

xoxo

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