Nude

Gregory Brown and John Evans

ERWhittington 2 Comments

I’d admired both of their portfolios pretty much since I’d started modelling. We’d all spoken plenty of times before about potential bookings and finally managed to get the diaries together recently, which I was really excited about! I love their quirky props, the twisted shapes, the counterpoint in their work at which classicism meets weirdness… and the way the light wraps so beautifully around the models they photograph (I should probably mention that while I’m talking about both of them, they do shoot separately, one-on-one; for this shoot, I shot with Gregory while John shot with another model, then we swapped half way). I couldn’t wait to see what location was in store for me; I’d originally been booked for a studio shoot, but things were changed at the last minute and it turned out to be an enormous, half derelict house, bought by a friend of Gregory and in the gradual process of being restored… So, huge scope for interesting shots!

Here are some of me by Gregory Brown (there are a couple of shots which appear in colour and in b&w, as I’m struggling to choose in these cases… Please comment if you are more decisive than me and have a favourite!):

Stairs:

Strings:

Pointes:

Bongos in the window:

John Evans also sent me some photos. We couldn’t resist the purple wall:

More pointe shoes:

And some doorways:

And THEN…. It turned out that the guy whose house we were shooting in was in fact a British champion helicopter pilot. When he offered me a quick spin in his purple helicopter, I could hardly say no, could I? England drives me mad sometimes, but seeing it from the sky is a beautiful reminder of how wonderful the land is. Such an amazing experience!!! These are from my camera:

 My hand – I’m flying the thing!!

 
The location (and my little brum brum):

 Helicopter!

I didn’t actually realise Russell was quite the pro he was until afterwards… Bit scary when at the end of the flight around Warwickshire he claimed not to be very good at landing on grass, and seemed quite worried, telling me to brace myself for a skiddy landing, etc…. Eeek! What a tease. I didn’t even feel the touchdown. Ha!


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!