Instagram model Kimberly Douglas has made a name for herself taking professional-looking fashion photos using stuff around the house. Douglas no only poses for her photos, she also serves as art director, lighting designer, photographer, stylist, set designer, and makeup artist. As Kelly Clarkson said during an interview with the artist, she doesn’t want to give anyone a job. She manages to pull off these very editorial-looking photos with little or no budget.

“My passion has been modeling ever since I decided I wanted to be in front of the camera instead of behind it, and 3 years ago it started to evolve when I began creating my own photo shoots and this year it changed again as I became more passionate about being in front AND behind the camera. I’ve gotten fired, rejected from agencies & doubted this entire journey, and even though I’ve wanted to give up a lot, I never did because then it would’ve all been for nothing. I don’t want to look back saying I wish or I should have… 3 years ago I got a fortune cookie that had the sentence “Never be less than your dreams” written on it. That’s what drives me.”

She says she gets her inspiration from Pinterest and God. However she’s doing it, it’s certainly working for her. She’s got nearly 200K followers on Instagram, and she’s a hot commodity, with recent features on Good Morning America, ABC News, and USA Today. This girl is going places! She’d be a great find for a small, struggling fashion magazine.

As beautiful as her photos are, I think the real key to Douglas’s success is that she totally tells on herself. Rather than letting people think her slick-looking photo shoots are the product of fancy equipment and staff, she lets her followers know what goes into creating her illusions. If you click the right arrow on her beautiful, polished posts below, you’ll get to see all the artist’s tricks and hacks. Brilliant!

You can follow the amazing Kimberly Douglas on Instagram.

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Can’t believe this is my last shoot of the year…this was a 3 day process (of building/shooting, planning/waiting for everything to come in was around a two week process) I tried using cardboard as the box part but it was too flimsy so I got some cheap wood from @homedepot got the lights from @amazon and built a giant infinity mirror (mirror/two way mirror film also from @homedepot). Also it was so freaking hot in that box I was literally sweating (it was gross 😂). Also (again aha) this is my 125th shoot for 2019…✨ Outfit: @houseofcb Mirror/2 way mirror film/wood: @homedepot Led lights: @amazon

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Dec 26, 2019 at 7:14pm PST

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It was so windy today…it pushed me to the ground, then broke my first umbrella 🙃 so I ended up using this one, I shot two times today because the wind went down but then it got dark and I couldn’t get high enough on the trampoline. Also this dress is so tight I’m surprised it didn’t rip as many times as I had to run, jump and repeat.

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Jan 29, 2020 at 7:06pm PST

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5 days later, in a column of (freezing) water, in 55 degree weather in a bikini (I have never been so cold in my life, I’m also so happy I finished this shoot after building it, then taking it apart and rebuilding it, losing light, having to continually add tape to stop it from leaking and it was still leaking in this photo 🙄😂, the most complicated shoot yet)

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Dec 3, 2019 at 4:55pm PST

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I accidentally broke my mirror sometime last week…so I kept it, broke it some more and used it for this shoot 😂 (good thing I don’t throw anything away 😂🙌🏾) I sprayed a bunch of water on all of the pieces but it kept drying so my mom had to keep spraying water for me while I was “stuck” 😂🙌🏾

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Oct 26, 2019 at 5:50pm PDT

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This shoot didn’t come out how I wanted it to at all ahaha, I thought I would be able to stand on the pedestal but was too tall for the set so I ended up sitting but could barely balance between shots, also my outfit was a table runner so there’s that 😂

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Jan 18, 2020 at 5:39pm PST

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Now see, this shoot was more difficult than I was anticipating, my papier-mâché fell apart, the foil didn’t look how I was envisioning it to look (also pretty much impossible not to crumple) and it took me re-editing these photos 5 times to get here 🙃 (I’m also reminding myself of a human chipotle burrito when the inspiration was @officialtlc 🙃😂)

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Dec 8, 2019 at 5:34pm PST

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This idea evolved in so many different ways and times in my mind, burned 3 or 4 of my fingers with that dang hot glue gun 🙄😂 and got stabbed by those damn flower stems a few times (oh and that trash bag of roses, yeah I’ve used those for multiple shoots and they always come in handy ahaha) oh I forgot to add…I thumbtacked my camera to the ceiling to get this shot

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Jan 13, 2020 at 7:31pm PST

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Ran out of time for the shoot I was planning on doing today, remembered that someone sent me a video of someone putting their phone flashlight into a laundry bin so I grabbed the outside of my mom’s trash can and created this 😂 (I also went to target to see if I could find something better, got a different trash can, came home, tested it out, didn’t look good and ended up using my mom’s trash can anyway, also the fan accidentally got into one of the shots when I moved it to get more wind and I ended up liking how it looked so I kept it) it’s been a looooong day 🥵😂 Outfit: Bathing suit – @mattecollection Cage skirt – @amazon

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Nov 24, 2019 at 9:16pm PST

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So I just realized this is my 101st photo shoot of the year 😳 honestly I’m really proud of these photos (that’s why I’m posting a few more 😂) it took a whole lot to get here 🥵😂 Foundation: @fentybeauty #profiltrfoundation 360 Lips: @fentybeauty #stunna lip paint 💋

A post shared by K I M B E R L Y. (@kihmberlie) on Sep 27, 2019 at 6:30pm PDT