One of the things that attracted me to working with Iain was his ability to create beautiful, light-filled, ‘airy’, soft glamour images, which are very fresh and romantic. These are more seductive than I usually do, granted, but they’re still pretty tame and relatively innocent, and I’ll never go beyond this limit.
First, some retro/vintage/pretty-style lingerie:
And:
The following are from the final set we did. A bit raunchier than anything I usually do! I love the fiery set up.
I know, I know, it’s been ages since I’ve updated! I’ve had a lot of exciting shoots recently but am reluctant to post without the images – hopefully I’ll be able to remedy this soon!
Anyway, I was lucky enough to be asked recently to model for the new 2011 collection of Chanticleer wedding dresses, each made by the extremely talented bridal designer Tracey Salt in Cheltenham. One look at the Chanticleer website and I knew this would be a wonderful day; the dresses are exquisite.
We shot at Badger Farm, having stayed over the night before in the cottage. It was such a varied, beautiful location; the views all around were amazing (as you can see in one of the images below). It was a brilliant case of everyone pulling their weight and doing their bit; 2 models and 18 dresses to get through in one day (11 hours!), all with different hair and make up, and each needing help to get into and out of each dress, trains carried for walking outside between locations, beautiful shoes carried until the last moment for minimal mud-sinking, fluffy robes held to be thrown on between sets (there was a very cold wind on the day!)… We were well looked after! All in all, the shots below are due to the brilliant teamwork of the following:
Designer: Tracey Salt (Chanticleer)
Assistant: Natalie Russell (Chanticleer)
Photography team: Chris and Claire Hanley
Make up: Hannah Raison
Hair: James
Beautiful and lovely other model: Rachel Hetherington
Thanks also to Liz Parker, Tracey’s mum, and for the gorgeous jewellery and shoes (which I don’t have a link for but may be found via the Chanticleer website).
The theme of the collection is ‘Back to Nature’. Each of the 18 dresses is named after a fairy. Cute or what! Here are the 9 dresses I modelled…
Jocasta:
Oriana:
Aphrodite:
Cassandra:
Paloma:
Arabella:
Carmel:
Minerva:
If you like what you see and are feeling bridally inclined, you can visit visit both Chanticleer and Chris Hanley Photography at this year’s National wedding Show at the NEC, from October 8-10th October.
Behind the scenes… 🙂
I did promise one commentator some results from my day at the Victorian Pub event in Oxford, and as I’m on a bit of an admin roll (I’ve just updated my availability on my website, having recently decided to make some time available for September bookings. Last minute I know, but maybe you’ll have read my previous post…) I thought I would post some of the images. Many thanks to the kind photographers who have offered me the chance to show them off! It was a great day, lots of fun and I think the photographers enjoyed the unusual location and potential it gave for some funky images. Here are my favourites:
From Martyn Davis (who took one look at this penguin and agreed we had to use it):
From the lovely Karen Jones, who I’ve managed to work with about a million times now:
Here’s the advert for a CD with my face on, photography by Patrick Allen at www.operaomnia.co.uk. I think I look suitably wistful. 🙂
I’ve just been sent these files from Karl Baxter, from a shoot we did earlier this month. Although I was initially quite surprised when he contacted me, as I’m not known for being a fashion model, he said he was interested in working with me precisely because I had a much softer look than the models he usually works with, and his enthusiasm really rubbed off on me. I love to work with people who are really open about wanting to shoot with me and just get on with the planning with no faffing around or playing it too cool; I find it really inspiring to be believed in! The results are so different for me (and for him!). The clothes are a mixture of Poof and my own. Make up and massive afro (I had to readjust my normal notions of the size of my own head when posing, hoping it was all getting in the frame, and couldn’t help touching my own hair between sets, marvelling at its birds nest-like texture…) by the wonderfully talented Becky Hunting. I hope you like these shots! Comments/likes/dislikes welcome as always.
I worked with Michael for the second time, at a beautiful late Georgian, early Victorian house in Wiltshire. Although the weather wasn’t exactly on our side (downpours all day!), you just can’t go wrong in such an amazing location. Michael’s style thrives on soft, natural light and the beautiful, rustic ‘shabby chic’, furnishings and features of the house were just perfect for someone who places such importance on location (much of Michael’s work is travel photography). He’s very kindly sent me some images from the day:
I’d be meaning to work Chris Rout for over a year before I finally got around to it. I needed some lifestyle shots for my commercial agencies and have always admired the incredible way Chris captures light; his work is so fresh and natural, which was exactly what I needed, so the 5-hour trip (each way) to Middlesbrough was well worth the time and effort. I couldn’t believe how quickly he worked. We got through over 20 sets, I think, with many of them finished within just 3-4 shots! Chris also needed some natural-looking stock styles (many of which I haven’t included here), so it was a great exchange.
Also, in case you missed it on my rather smug (sorry!) facebook status (page here), the hotel I stayed in before the shoot had a cancellation and I was offered a free upgrade to an enormous room with two beds (one being a double four poster), gorgeous antique-looking furniture and a stained glass bay window. Brilliant! I hardly ever stay in hotels, so it’s always quite a novelty anyway.
Back to the images. I won’t lie, there’s a lot (A LOT) of cheese here. Good, wholesome ‘don’t you just love life?’ stuff… Brace yourselves!
(… And as you can see, I’m struggling to limit these down to just a few favourites. As the whole idea of commercial/lifestyle portfolio shots is for the potential client to see what you would look like in a given ‘scenario’, it’s all about seeing/showing yourself in different ways and from different points of view… So thoughts and opinions are very welcome, as always.)
Kicking off with ‘Casual Ella’:
‘Purple Dress (dangerously close to editorial but not allowing ourselves to go there for more than a couple of shots) Ella’:
‘Health and Beauty Ella’ (including ‘my elbow hurts’):
‘Catalogue Ella’:
‘Hanging out in lingerie Ella’ (kicking off this time with ‘my stomach hurts’/’perhaps I’m pregnant’):
‘Office Ella’ (including ‘let’s talk business’ Ella and my personal favourite, ‘really really excited, office has won the lottery’ Ella):
‘Safari Ella’:
‘Mumsy Ella’:
‘Bikini Frolics’ and ‘Action Ella’:
And ‘Ballerina Ella’:
What a productive day!
Ella Rose - Photo actress, Muse & Dancer 