Commercial

Diamante and Pearls, Ribbon and Ruching, Beads and Blushes

ERWhittington 2 Comments

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.

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Behind the scenes… 🙂

 The Eeyore robe I fell in love with. WARM:
 
My mug:
 The princess dress, Oriana (Hhm, earring still with its tag on):

Tracey (designer) getting rather hands-on with my underskirt… I love my face in this. I don’t think I’m totally sure what’s happening to me.

‘Get me to the location on time!’

Commercial/lifestyle with Chris Rout

ERWhittington 6 Comments

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!

The Sea, The Sea (I ran by it)

ERWhittington 6 Comments

And I ran a little bit IN it, which was nice. Being by the sea makes me so inexplicably happy; I deeply envy those who live near it and as if it’s just some other landmark or view. The ocean excites me sooo much; partly in a perverse way, since it terrifies me slightly (think of the ghosts down there; the sailors who gulped their last watery breaths alone; the bones; the deep, thundery laps of water rolling over itself and the bus-sized creatures who lurk, glass-eyed, past each other, having changed very little since the dinosaur age; the creaking sounds of ships and debris; the hunting noises and the dull squawks of the gulls over the water…. See, I even love sea gulls). Being at the shore-line is always magical. So you can see why I was quite excited to be working with John Kent down in Bournemouth recently.

We worked primarily on some stock images; running down the beach – lust for life, that kind of thing. My calves hurt a LOT the next day. I’d forgotten how running on sand can take its toll, especially if you don’t warm up..!

Then, I spent some time spinning and twirling under an arch, wearing pretty clothes. I do love my job!