Three awesome shoots
Twenty twenty five is now three months old and is playing out well, but it is also in stark contrast to this time last year. These past few years I have rekindled my love of photography and I have been fortunate to be able to dial up the focus year on year but I’m not sure I’ll be able to top 2024. I began the year with a lot of enthusiasm which was strange given I was suddenly out of a job, one I had had for ten years. But that’s me, glass is half full. I seized the opportunity and booked in a number of photography trips. However, two weeks into this new life and I was offered a 3 day a week contract. I had promised myself I would take a break (I’d had two jobs in twenty years) and I also had said I wouldn’t take the first job that came along. But it was a great role and I really liked the team and project AND they were fine with me working around my planned trips. It wasn’t long before that became a full time job and I love it. But that has meant that my day job takes focus and this year I have had fewer opportunities to shoot. That being said, the studio time I have had has been very productive, each one special and a reminder why I love the creativity that photography affords me.
Three months, three wonderful people.
Tara
As new years day was coming to a close Tara and I were exchanging messages and conjuring up a plan to shoot together later that month. I know, the intro above suggests I would have skipped January, but my last shoot was in November and I had an itchy trigger finger. I had followed Tara for a while now and she had just popped up on my feed and I was reminded that this was someone I had wanted to connect with. If there is one thing that I enjoy the most about Instagram it is the ability to connect with like minded people and know that there is a very strong chance that we’ll share a desire to be creative. That is exactly what happened with Tara, I had initially reached out so she could pencil me in for some time in the future but that quickly became two weeks away. Yes we were strangers to one another, but that unspoken creative passport was soon stamped and we were both looking forward to a day in a studio together.
I knew Tara was an actress, but it turns out she also works as a stylist and she offered to bring some outfits to shoot in. Me: “What, someone awesome to photograph who could not just model but also play a part all whilst wearing a carefully curated outfit!” I couldn’t have asked for more!
Do you remember Rachel from Blade Runner?
These frames were taken minutes after I had met Tara, she walked in the door of the studio probably hoping for a cup of tea and a moment to get to know the photographer. But I had to apologise and say “Lovely to meet you, fab hair! We’ve got about 45 mins before that light will go, so can we do the normal greetings later?”
I’ve not worked with a replicant before but that is what I realised was happening when Tara stepped in front of my camera. We both saw it and let it just happen. The suit and hair piece, coupled with the shafts of hard light and a futuristic background, Tara knew what to do. Tara quickly switched into actress mode, and it wasn’t long before Sean Young aka Rachel stepped into the light wells along the back wall of the studio.
Fun fact: Rutger Hauer who played the replicant Roy Batty was reading the script the night before he would play his final scene and decided it needed more punch and re-wrote the now infamous 42 word monologue. James Cameron who directed the film would find out on the day.
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... Time to die.”
Tara may not be a replicant but she played her role beautifully.
Knight and day
Other than the date and location, our day in the studio was unplanned and spontaneous, each set was made up in the moment which made our time together even more fun. Tara had so many great outfits to work though and it was my job to create a background or use the light to match.
Her passion for vintage and seeking out a thrifted bargain cascaded upon the studio floor and we enjoyed picking something and figuring out how to use it. This sequined dress is actually green, but shot against a black cloth backdrop and with some hard light plus my love of B&W and you have another futuristic look.
Tara ensured that each set was matched with the right hair and makeup. The only challenge being (as she would say) “So. Much. Hair!”
At risk of this post being dedicated to Tara, I’ll share a mix of images below from the rest of our shoot together.
A few weeks later we met up so I could give Tara a couple of prints I had made from our shoot. We enjoyed our catch up, it was clear we had a lot of common views. Tara also shared that she had been asked by another photographer how we had planned each set and he was surprised to learn that we had made it up as we went along. I don’t know how to shoot differently, but I do know that how you approach photography will always be more important than the camera. More importantly the people you meet along the way are what really matters and Tara was no exception. A Swiss Army Knife of creativity and a lovely person inside and out.
Meg
I was in Paris in October 2024 and rather randomly was exchanging messages with Meg trying to sort out a second shoot together. We had first met back in March that year and had a brilliant shoot together, one that cemented a need to shoot together another day. Meg is always incredibly busy and with my new need to shoot outside of the working week we agreed her first available Saturday which was at the end of Feb the next year. Ages away!
Over the past year I have enjoyed shooting in daylight studios and have made a point of trying to find new and interesting places to work in. My long standing favourite studio had closed its doors and this ignited a need to find somewhere new to shoot in. For this shoot with Meg I booked a big space with two bare plaster walls and a large overhead skylight that would force very different images to anything I am used to taking. I very much like the challenge of working with what the light provides on the day.
If Vivian Westwood and Colorama made dresses
We had just arrived at the studio and were discussing what look to start with as a warm up set. Meg shared an image of a woman holding a roll of crumpled paper, it was beautiful, but not something she could pull out of her suitcase. Regardless I was keen to see what I could do. I was chatting with Xiaobo, co-owner of the studio who happily had some old colorama that they planned to throw out. That left me to crumple the paper and figure out how to suspend it whilst Meg applied some subtle but strong make up.
I hung the paper under the big skylight hoping to use the daylight from above. The morning was rather overcast so I also added a bit of fill light, but as we got shooting the daylight filled the room and that created the more dramatic overhead light that I wanted to help bring out the texture in the paper.
A few frames later and the inspo shot was a distant memory as it was becoming apparent that we could make a dress out of the paper. I asked Meg to get some shoes and she was keen to change her hair. The look was now much more refined. The final adjustment was some subtle tears to the top of the dress. The idea being to remove the empire line look and create the corseted shape you can see here.
Ninety minutes, a gift of a few meters of old paper, some daylight and two people who share a creative connection. That is the sum of these photos.
What a difference a hat makes
When I first shot with Meg she later said ’thank you for showing me for who I am’. In truth, I don’t think I did anything, but I do know we clicked and that trust lets someone be their best. Meg has chosen modeling as a profession, she knows what she is doing. But it’s also nice when you see that confidence climb up another rung or two on the ladder.
This shoot saw a number of those moments, one example was when she put on this hat. It was as if a switch was flipped and Meg went into full on fierce mode. If you know Meg, you will know she is the nicest, kindest person, so seeing her like this was awesome. This set was a step change from the previous one and we were once again reminded that spontaneity suits us both rather well.
Meg and I had a brilliant shoot together, another unscripted day but one where each look was a combination of our collaborative approach. I could shoot with Meg again and again, we understand each other and she is so much fun with it.
Below are a handful of images from the other sets we created, in truth I have so many more to edit, but like a box of chocolates I am saving them up to enjoy over a longer period of time.
Ada
I first learned of Ada in August 2023. I just finished a wonderful shoot with Ivory Flame who was in London to shoot with me, but also planned to turn from model to photographer the next day and shoot with Ada. I was intrigued and had to follow Ada to learn more (I’ve learned that Ivory Flame keeps good company). It was clear this was a person who was naturally creative and I have since enjoyed Ada’s images, those she models for, but also her own self portraits.
It was almost a year later that Ada got in touch to see if we could shoot in London, an annual expedition to see friends and be creative away from her native Canada. Sadly that idea didn’t work out as Air Canada decided to strike on her flight days. So it was a lovely surprise when Ada announced she was arriving in London - we had to make it work!
Ada is full of life and bursting with energy. She arrived bearing two cameras and three bags of clothes, her small frame seemingly unaware of the weight as she tried to capture the morning fog that hung over Brick Lane. This is the first photo I took of Ada, I think it sums her up rather well.
Hat and tie
This was our first set together, a warm up set as we got to know one another. Ada had sent me an urgent message 36 hours before, “can you bring a black tie as I think I have forgotten mine”. Isn’t it funny to enjoy a world where a stranger can send you a message like that and it also be perfectly normal.
I’d hunted about and found one untouched for years (I’m not a tie guy) and laughed as I found myself ironing it - I’ve never done that before! As we greeted one another I brandished my tie, proud of my ironing achievements and Ada realised she had in fact packed hers, her perma grin beamed. She was right to be uncertain as she had brought so many amazing outfits from Canada, it was a wonder she'd made it to the studio alone.
The studio space wasn’t big, especially when you consider Ada is a dancer at heart and deserved more room to create. But her cat like abilities soon found ways to exploit our surroundings. The tie was a central theme and we decided to compliment it with my hat, the one that has a story (more on that later).
This window became a vital part of our shoot, not just for the light, but also as a prop.
Tiny dancer
We had a little under thirty minutes of studio time left and we both wanted to use the mezzanine that hung over the studio space. I laid out the canvas backdrop and Ada found a piece of fabric, the idea being to create some shapes and allow Ada to leverage her love of dance.
I was literally hanging over the wooden balcony clutching my camera with both hands for fear of dropping it on Ada below me. The daylight was perfect as it flooded the room from the two large windows and that allowed us to just focus on the shapes and composition. Ada uses the name Bendnotbreak on instagram and here, in this moment I could see that flexibility as she distorted herself into impossible shapes (impossible for me!).
Strange and beautiful
Ada had spotted the ladder early into our shoot and knew she wanted to use it somehow. She later announced with purpose “I could get into it!”. With the benefit of hindsight the ladder is simply a frame, something to focus the eye on the wonder that is Ada.
Like with the other two shoots I have many more images from this one to edit and I shall enjoy spreading over my evenings to come.
The hat you have seen above has a story, it was given to me by Marisa when we last shot together in New York. Marisa is no stranger to creating a persona to suit the outfit or moment. She strutted about the studio and made the most of the sound of Billy Jean playing from my laptop, the hat becoming an extension of her body. As we parted company she decided I should keep the hat and I flew home the next day with it. It was only when my shoot with Meg was coming up that I thought to bring it along and seeing how it energised her I took it with me to see if Ada could use it. Much like a favourite jacket, I think there is a hidden energy in the hat that gives the wearer a boost, a reminder that they look cool.
2025 may not yield the same amount of travel photography as last year, but it has already kicked off with some images that I love and importantly I have had a great time creating them with some incredible people. I have made a promise to myself to shoot at least once a month this year and if this is a measure of what is to come I can’t wait for my next shoot!
