Velvet Goldmine

Once again, I'm going back to my usual boring stories of how I love meeting people as a part of my job. Sometimes people come and go, and then there are other moments where your brain is just like "Woah, stop everything. Stop. This person is AWESOME!" This was my reaction upon meeting Jasmine Alexander, amazing mistress of precious metals and dazzling jewels.

I was asked to shoot her for Diva Magazine a year or so ago. It was my first commissioned portrait by them, so was suitably nervous already. And the more research I did, the more in awe of her work I became. I was utterly terrified by the time it came to meet her, which lasted all of thirty seconds once she was inside my studio. A mass of curles sat on top of a face I'd come to know as jetlagged and excited - both which seem to work in tandem as her default setting.

We ended up shooting this:

Diva, December 2010 Issue.

We also got an amazing portrait of her partner in crime, Casper. Easily the cutest creature to ever drool in front of my lens.

The photo felt like a turning point somehow, as it went from being my first proper request from a magazine, to appearing in bits and pieces of high-brow press such as L'Officiel Russia and later, the L'Officiel Paris website.

The end of Summer brought with it some exciting news, and I found myself shooting a new portrait in her Old Street studio. The image was to accompany a piece amongst the prestegious pages of La Monde, and we were both dying to tell everyone what was going on.

The chosen shot combined a rock and roll spirit , showcasing both her work and the person behind the work perfectly.

We did shoot some others on the roof overlooking beautiful East London with the last shards of Summer sunlight being chased away by Autumnal breezes.

View her work at www.jasminealexander.com

Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell

There is a huge difference between the headshot and the portrait. A headshot is something which gives people a blank canvas to project onto, whilst a portrait captures the very essence of the subject at hand. Both are interesting studies in human nature; the nerves, the twitches, the wry smiles - and both offer an interesting insight into the person standing infront of your camera lens, with contact sheets often giving away more than a diary or cv ever could.

As I've said many a time before, the best part of my job is stumbling across these people. Although I've kept back a few sets of images for their own posts (Jasmine Alexander for Le Monde, Phil Bowman for New Empress, Chrys Columbine and Beatrix Von Bourbon for Rockalily), these are some of my favourite portraits shot over the last few months...

Model: Dancer and model, Ryan Featherstone.
Location: North London.

Model: Friend, photographer and music journalist, Tom Perry.
Location: Bow, East London and Alley Cat.

Models: Staff from New Empress Magazine.
Location: North London.

Models: Binky Buxotica of Pearls and Swine, and artist and DJ Trafford Parsons.
Location: Leeds.

Model: Vintage minx, Natalie Booth.
Location: North London.
MUA and Hair: Heyday Honey.

That's all for now, but there are many more shoots to post and preview when I get a chance! ♥

Painted Pastel Princess

Sometimes you have an idea in your head which you know is going to push you. It's perhaps not technically difficult, but one which has you scratching your head wondering how to get the layers and volume right. In this case, the answer again and again was "more wind machines please".

The thought process behind this shoot was interesting as it constantly evolved as pen hit paper. It initially started out with a love for a series of images by one of my favourite photographers, Solve Sundsbo.

I didn't want to recreate the images, but instead work out the process behind them. It was approaching the Spring at the time when this idea was first conceived, so I decided to base the theme around flowers with the volumne of the dresses recreating opening petals, and the arms of the model shaping stems, stamen etc. The more I focused on Sunsbro's work, I suddenly realised that the reason I had gone in this direction was because that was his initial starting point too. That is why the petal shapes were so reminiscent to me, despite the patterned fabrics.

I still decided that shape was an interesting notion to play with, so decided to work with a dancer as well as a model to get two different styles. One who knew how to pose with her body, and the other who knew how to shape it in the air with a background in ballet.

Although I was never fully happy with how the images turned out, it was still something which I'm glad I worked on. I layered two dresses on top of each other, and reversed them on the models so that there was a continuity between them, and we had three wind machines catching the dresses at different angles with the models jumping in the air.

I would do so many things differetly if reshot - firstly, the white background just isn't right. It needed to be a dark background. Also, the lighting is too clean. It needed more shadow falling across. There is something too sterile about them, which is why they never ended up anywhere. The second part of the shoot is hioefully due to come out as part of an editorial in November, which was off the cuff, and as such, much less laboured over on my part.

This was probably the first "big" shoot which I had done off my own back with a team, so think that I massivly overthought everything. I certainly overcomplicated it. However, it was a good learning curve, and got to me to meet my favourite MUA and amazing friend, Sarah Frasca. So everything happens for a reason.

Model: Ortance Allar and Nyuszi Boros.

Make-Up and Hair: Sarah Frasca.

Hair: Gergana Madzharova.

Dresses: Andy Andreou at Angels.

Flowers: Pearls & Swine