fashion

Portraiture workshop

ERWhittington 1 Comment

I meant to post these two shots a while ago after discovering them on Redbubble and contacting the photographer. It’s amazing what you find sometimes; there is so much out there I haven’t seen and I’m sure there are lots of photographic gems floating around in the cybersphere! These were taken by John Buchanan during a portraiture workshop in Lacock I modelled at a while ago, run by Dominic Falcone.

I like modelling for group workshops; you meet so many enthusiastic, budding photographers buzzing to learn and it can be a lot of fun (and requires quite different skills from one-to-one shoots). I’ve got a couple of good ones coming up in the next few months, and have built up a rather wonderful wardrobe for boudoir, bridal… and bridal boudoir… shoots, etc. On that note, I’ve spent a frankly embarrassing amount of time recently updating my lingerie collection with some beautiful new additions: vintage-retro pieces, French silk, black lace, elbow-length gloves, a sheer babydoll dress… and lots more. I only learnt to use ebay a few months ago (honestly!), so I suppose I had some catching up to do. I currently have my eye on a beautiful, frivolous and dramatic ball dress, as well as some intriguing and beautiful world costumery, but really should stop while I’m ahead… or should I? 

Clue: I probably won’t. Especially as I’ve recently been adding to my ‘bucket list’ (now carried around with me digitally on my phone, for when inspiration strikes – or needs to strike!) of ideas and themes I think would work really well and haven’t done before. Ah, it’s all just an excuse to dress up!

Some fashion-y bits from Pierus

ERWhittington 7 Comments

Hhhm. How many photos are too many for a single blog post? I always post too many (it’s definitely true that there is more impact when a viewer sees fewer shots per set), and I might even learn one day to post more selectively, but since this blog is my designated place free of such rules and limits, I shall continue to overflood the area. On the plus side, maybe it shows that I can get a lot done in one relatively short shoot… (And not that I’m just really indecisive.) Yeah, I’ll go with that.

Photography by Pierus, from a recent trip to Cambridge. Muchos appreciation to him for kindly sending these!

The last one reminds me somehow of an actor’s shot.

And since I’m here… Here are some of the nudes we did as well – nice, simple shapery with lovely fine-detail lighting:

The Gypsy’s Jewels

ERWhittington 6 Comments

This was 100% a mutual collaboration; I’m swathed in silks, flowing skirts, sparkling beads, heavy pendants, heavy bangles, feathers, intricate masks and jingle jangles (I had no time to be selective and brought sackfuls of clothes/accessory joy, while Holly had laid out all her best adornery on her bed, ready for my arrival; seriously, between us we could host a pretty impressive treasure shop!!!). I stood in the piercing prickles of some beautiful sun-lit reed heads. It was blimmin’ cold, that day, and I was in a massive rush and definitely clock-watching a little bit, having not fully packed for a backpacking trip I was departing for the next morning. This wasn’t the first time I’d modelled for Holly (I think it was the fourth. See Winter Portraits and Gemini). Check out her portfolio on Model Mayhem: Jewelled Earth.

Two To Tango

ERWhittington 4 Comments

Just thought I’d show off a few shots from a recent shoot with J H (I think this was our fifth shoot, but I may be wrong) and Kayleigh Lush, before I go away for a while for fun and holidays.

J wanted to photograph a tango theme. Both Kayleigh and I have varied dance experience, but neither of us had properly done this particular style before; I took one class once! Everyone knows that this is the dance of love though – passion and drama are what it’s about! We did this shoot in Brighton, and there were many, many people walking past constantly, who were suitably blasé about us (mostly).

Kayleigh is wonderful to work with; I highly recommend her to photographers looking for a versatile (and tall) art model with fantastic dance skills. For this shoot she was playing the masculine role, and did a great job of being strong and supporting me. (We’d worked together before; I will blog some very cool images from that shoot another time!) We had lots of fun trying to work out the anatomy of the positions as we did them; whose leg should go where, how best to place our arms, tension in the hands, etc… For some of the poses we tried, we worked out that it was best to swing into them or for Kayleigh to catch me as I fell into a position for the shot, so you can see my foot tipping and hair blowing in some, etc. It made the tension and passion more real. Other more investigative/ambitious poses ended up with both of us falling on the floor in a heap of giggles and a knee-in-sternum position which should never be repeated by anyone ever.

Anyway, without further ado, and with thanks to J again for a fun challenge: