All Light And Beauty

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Paris When It Sizzles

As you can see from my previous post about walls London is currently grey. It's February and rainy and back in springtime Paris is where I'd like to be.

These images are from a trip I took with the very lovely and very talented fashion designer Suzie Laloe-Punchard to Paris last spring.

(Images shot on soon-to-be-defunct 35mm Portra-VC for these sizzling colours.)

Walls

I think it's something about fashion photographers... but we really seem to have a thing for nice walls.

Because the straight-up photograph, which was first pioneered by iD in the 80s, is now so established as a legitimate form of fashion photography the street has taken on a more abstract identity 'to become a blank canvas ready to be filled by the imagination of the reader' - (Rocamora & O'Neil in Shinkle:2008).

Marina and I were scouting for walls that will become our blank canvas, a theatre to act out a project involving site specific art/fashion installations on the East London streets.

More to come soon, until then, enjoy the lovely walls:

Monday, 7 February 2011

Hampstead Heath Polaroids

Scanned the Polaroids from my test on Hampstead Heath.

They are a bit dark because it was getting dark, but maybe they look better being dark?

Styling: Jennivi Jordan

(www.jennivi.blogspot.com)

Make-up: Lucie Oliver

(www.lucieoliver.com)

Assistant: Gabriella May

(www.gabriellarosemay.blogspot.com)

Model: Eniko at Sapphires

A Polaroid of Perfection

Beauty Polaroids.

Make-up: Gabriella May

(www.gabriellarosemay.blogspot.com)

Model: Rhiannon at Nevs

Beauty Test

A beauty shoot with Rhiannon.

Rhiannon wanted some new beauty images for her portfolio and I as always wanted to take more photographs so we collaborated together on this shoot.

I was reading about Lee Miller and Man Ray and the way they collaborated together on images. Lee Miller was a photographer and a model comfortable both in front and behind the camera and she was often photographed by Man Ray. Curator Jane Livingston said that their photographs:

"Seem created through a process in which the model and photographer have collaborated fully as artists." (Livingston, 1989)

Though I don't suggest that Rhiannon and I had anywhere near as profound experience as Man Ray and Lee Miller I think this shoot felt more collaborative than most because she was very sure of the sort of images she needed, and because we are friends there was more freedom for each of us to suggest new ideas.

I'm so interested in this idea of collaboration between model and photographer in fashion photography, and I really believe that good communication of ideas is so important between all members of a creative team, but especially between photographer and model at the point the images are being taken.

I love these images and I want to explore ways of creating this sort of collaborative relationship with more models I work with.

Make-up: Gabriella May

(www.gabriellarosemay.blogspot.com)

Model: Rhiannon at Nevs

Friday, 4 February 2011

Hampstead Heath Test

Black and white photographs from my test on Hampstead Heath last week.

We didn't get as many photos as we wanted because our model got lost on the way to my house, and then the taxi I'd booked was too small for everyone, so we were running very late and the light was failing by the time we reached our location.

Also we had been planning to have two models but the other girl injured her foot the night before and so couldn't make it, so Eniko had to do the work for two models.

Nevertheless I had a brilliant team and I'm am happy with how they turned out.

(Polaoids still to come)