Fashion Editorial with Barbra

FASHION EDITORIAL WITH BARBRA

I’ve known designer Barbara for a few years now. We’ve collaborated on several occasions (here for example) and became friends along the way. Earlier this year I decided to carve out a day every month for personal, creative work where I invite various people to collaborate and take some photos just for fun. It allows me to experiment, and try things I don’t get to do with paid clients. It also gets me excited about photography again. Barbra’s been on the list of prospective collaborations for this and lucky for me she was up for having some photos taken. We shot a lot with hard light that day, something I’ve always been scared of but I am scared of it no more thanks to how this shoot turned out. We were going for retro vibes - some Old Hollywood, some 1980s. Have a look below.

Hair, Make Up & Styling: Michelle Watson
Studio: Basement49

GEAR
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter
Profoto A1 x 2
Profoto B10
120cm Octabox
Softbox 3' Octa
Softgrid Octa
Reflector

Govanhill Baths Editorial

Govanhill Baths is an Edwardian public bathhouse which opened in Glasgow in 1917 and earlier this year students from West College of Scotland took it over for a one-day fashion photography workshop organised by photographer and lecturer Lauren Stirling. Govanhill Baths is such an amazing space - I photographed a musical there a few years ago (I know, how random!) and always wanted to come back and use it for something more editorial. I'd given a couple of photography talks at West College of Scotland on behalf of Bridge 2 Business in the past and was more than happy to come along to the workshop to give my 2 cents as well as take some photos of my own, especially once I've learned where it was taking place. Thanks to Lauren Stirling for the invitation and West College of Scotland students for help and donuts!

Models: Jack McQueen & Erin Charters (both from Model Team)
Hair & Make Up: Caroline Stewart
Headpieces & Vintage Wedding Dress: Kitsch Me Vintage

Old Hollywood

I've always been obsessed with portraits from the Golden Age of Hollywood, especially the ones taken before World War II broke. I remember cutting out those Dietrich head shots by Don English or numerous publicity stills taken by George Hurrell from newspapers and magazines whenever there was an article on stars or films from that era. Sure, more often than not they were the results of painful sittings with subjects who were contractually obliged to have their shots taken by this or that particular photographer whether they approved of them or not and the end results were retouched to within an inch of their life (I find it funny when people go on about Photoshopping these days as if retouching was the digital age's invention) but when you look at those images today you cannot deny the fact that they are timeless. They will never age and they also seem to have a certain air of melancholy about them. I think my preoccupation with that particular style of photography can be seen in my work at times - the shadows, rich blacks, the drama, use of wide apertures, etc. It's not necessarily something I do consciously  - it just happens to be the kind of aesthetic I'm drawn to. I've always wanted however, to do a shoot that would directly pay homage to that era and this summer I was finally given an opportunity to do so.

I've written previously about the amazing Christine Bovill and her Piaf show at last year's Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and this July I was asked to take some publicity shots specifically to promote her Piaf performances - perfect opportunity to indulge my vintage Hollywood glamour obsession. The super-talented Caroline Stewart was in charge of hair and make up and here's a sample of what we managed to create:

At some point during the session I asked Christine to sing a song in order to get a few performance-like shots. After a few spine-tingling verses sung A capella in French, Caroline was reduced to tears. If you've not been as lucky and haven't had the chance to hear Miss Bovill live I urge you to do so immediately - she currently has a residency at Swing on Hope Street in Glasgow and you can see her perform live with The Shiverin' Sheiks every Thursday. Oh, it's free too!

I'm leaving you with a couple of images of a more dressed-down version of Christine take that same day:

New & Old Beginnings

Uhm, yeah, so I have no clue what happened to me and the whole idea of rebooting this blog, i.e. writing regularly. You know, like maybe more than once in 6 months. It's been a weird year so far though, both personally and professionally, so sitting down and writing about pretty pictures wasn't at the height of my priorities. Anyways, onwards and upwards and since photography has recently officially become my sole source of income and full-time occupation I should hope I'd be able to blog about it more regularly. Famous last words, right? Anyways, since this is a new beginning of sorts for me I thought it would only be fitting to talk about my actual photographic roots and I've recently found a picture that might be a great illustration of this:

This is my younger sister Ania, victim of many photographic experiments since her early years. I'm pretty sure this was around 1992 so I would've been 12 - 13 years old and as you can see this was a high concept shoot - set decoration included exotic plant and the subject's hair was styled on Lisa Stansfield during her "All Around The World" phase. The camera was a semi-automatic Samsung if I'm not mistaken and some basic Kodak film was used. And of course, we need to give a special mention to the innovative use of white background here. The point is, I clearly didn't have the tools and knowledge to execute what I had in mind but the concept was there. I'd like to think I've come a long way since then but the truth of the matter is I still quite often feel like I'm basically winging it.

The aforementioned Samsung camera got eventually stolen and to replace it my parents got me a proper SLR, a second-hand Zenit 11, and that's when I got a bit more serious about photography - learned how to develop film, prints, etc. I've still got that Zenit kicking about:

Miss Jackson and The Getaway Driver

Had an extremely productive Sunday for a change - finally managed to sort out that mountain of paperwork I've been moaning about for months! Kind of had to be done, really, as I'm moving flat soon and wasn't prepared to take that burden with me to the new place... Anyways, I thought I'd do a bit of a flashback post this time around and write about a project I was involved in earlier on this year, before I started this blog. I mentioned Jill Jackson a couple of times here (for those unfamiliar with Jill, she's the hot ex-frontwoman for Speedway), I've photographed her on numerous occasions over the past few years and I always enjoy working with her and her team but there was something particularly special about the "Getaway Driver" album project.

We started with a small promo shoot in January. It took place in an abandoned warehouse situated above a fishmongers so not only it was freezing cold but it stank of fish as well. We had a 90s R&B playlist to keep us going however and Jill soldiered on:

Later that month I went into the recording studio with Jill and her band (Lisa Tring, Fraser John Lindsay, Lorna Thomas and Johnny MacKinnon) to document the process of making the album. I love music as much as I love photography so I'm like a kid in a candy store whenever I get a chance to be involved in such ventures. Norman Blake (of Teenage Fanclub fame) can also be seen in a few shots here:

When all that was done it was time to shoot the album and single cover. We used a vintage Mercedes sitting in an Arnold Clark warehouse in Glasgow (previously on display at the Transport Museum apparently). Apart from it being ridiculously cold (recurring theme it seems) the shoot itself was pretty uncomplicated - all natural/available light, a reflector and one very cool lady:

Jill Jackson, "Getaway Driver" Single Cover

Jill Jackson, "Getaway Driver" Album Cover

The cover artwork was designed by The Print Box in Glasgow and the album was eventually released in May. It's probably one of my favourite records of 2012 - I may be biased, I admit, but I'll stick by it! In fact, my friends and I loved one of the tracks so much we decided to shoot our own music video to it. Heavily influenced by ABBA and late 70s kitsch in general, it involved a lot of wigs, cut out disco balls, sequined accessories, dancing and, inevitably, fizzy! The fact that MTV Video Music Awards ignored it in this year's selection is beyond me: Drag On The Line

Right, is this a long post or what? I think the subject matter was worthy though! Next time I promise something brand spanking new. Cheerio till then! PS. For my other work with Jill Jackson feel free to have a look in this gallery.

The artist & the photographer