A Gen Z influencer taught me how to take better photos while traveling solo. Her 3 tips transformed the way I take pictures of myself.

• Getting the perfect photo of yourself — that's not a selfie — while traveling solo can be a challenge.
• I wanted to take better pictures during a recent trip, so I turned to TikToker MJ Hedderman for help.

To her more than one million TikTok followers, digital creator MJ Hedderman is known as "the Instagram girlfriend." It's a moniker she said she fell into in 2020 after realizing she didn't need a partner to take photos of her — she could learn to take them herself instead.

Since then, Hedderman, 25, has been regularly posting tutorials on how to take expert-level photos of yourself when no one else is around. She's taught her followers how to work their angles, dream up creative poses, and, most importantly, build the confidence to do both in the real world. She's taught them to become their own Instagram girlfriend.

"It's kind of blossomed into this meaning of independence and doing things for yourself, without needing the help of anybody else," Hedderman told Insider. "I think that's what it taught me — to really just not care about what anyone thinks. Be your own Instagram girlfriend."

While on a recent trip to Paris, I decided to become my own Instagram girlfriend. I turned to Hedderman for advice on how to get photos that aren't selfies while traveling solo, and she left me with three tips for capturing the perfect snapshots.

She suggested ignoring what other people think, posing with "props," and taking videos instead of photos, then screenshotting the best frames — and her advice made me feel so much more confident while taking photos.

Not sure what to do with your hands? Hold a prop.

This simple tip answers what always felt like my biggest question while taking photos: What do I do with my hands?!

"If I feel uncomfortable, I'll get a coffee," Hedderman said. "I could imagine myself putting my hair up. Typically what I tell people to do is find movement within your body. Don't just stand there and think of a pose."

For years, my go-to pose was standing with a hand on my hip or with my arms outstretched — neither of which are inherently wrong but tend to feel forced. Holding something, like my sunglasses in the photo above, helped make me feel more natural in front of the camera.

Take a video — not a photo — then screenshot the frame you like the best

Instead of setting a timer and taking a series of photos, only to find out that none of them turned out well, Hedderman suggested taking a video. Then, once you're done, you can screenshot the frame you like the best.

Using this tip and her suggestion to use a prop felt like a natural way to get halfway-decent photos of myself. I'd walk in front of my camera, smile, then walk back, and most times, I'd have a frame that I liked.

I tried this suggestion at the Panthéon in Paris. Even though the above photo isn't "perfect," so to speak, I still think it's fun and creative, and I was excited to see the video tip worked.

Finally, allow yourself to stop caring what other people think

For me, this was Hedderman's most impactful piece of advice.

"Anything that you start, especially shooting pictures in public, is going to be uncomfortable — especially when you're doing something that's out of your comfort zone," Hedderman said. "But the way to get better at it is just time and practice and realizing ultimately that other people's opinions don't matter."

I've always harbored an innate, if subconscious, fear of embarrassing myself. Selfies — or God forbid, using a selfie stick — have long felt cringe to me, and the thought of using a tripod or asking a stranger to take a photo of me was always overwhelming enough to keep me from getting photos of myself while traveling alone.

But after a conversation with Hedderman, I was ready to break free from the fear of being cringey and built up enough confidence to snap a few good photos using a tripod, despite noticing some people watching me.

"You have to remember," Hedderman said, "there are so many tourists there doing the same thing."