WIN a vintage make-over and photoshoot courtesy of The Beauty Queens (make-up), Chantal Storrs-Barbor (fashion photographer) and Warrior Vintage (vintage shop)

http://www.vintagelifemagazine.com/

A couple of weeks ago, we had the pleasure of shooting the new collection by Leeanne Ripley-Garrett called Fairytale Emotions.

We only had a few weeks to get the team together and find the perfect location for the story of the shoot.

Leeanne found the perfect venue, Hall Place in Bexley, Kent which is a 15^th Century Tudor Manor House, which has been beautifully preserved and all its original feature remain.

Once I saw the venue, I knew exactly the style I wanted to achieve and I put together a short shot list from my memory of the location ( I shot a wedding there many years ago!)

The look and feel of the venue suited Leeannes “Fairytale Emotions” theme really well and I liked the idea of using the models to loosely emulate Suits of Amour, based around the location.

We chose two lovely models, Ana and Laurie who we knew had great performance skills as well as being good models and great team for hair and make-up.

I also brought along two assistants who have completed their work experience with me at the studio, believe me, there is no better work experience than being out on location for a full fashion shoot!!

I hope you like the images we created, and enjoy the sneaky peek at the behind the scenes action!

C x

A few weeks ago I had the great privilege of shooting with the beautiful actress Olivia Hallinan, star of BBC 1 period drama, Larkrise to Candleford and the TV & Film make-up artist, Dominic Webb at a stunning Victorian house on Wimbledon Common.

The brief was for a simple, soft yet opulent beauty shoot, which is right up my street!

I love working with models but I love working with actresses even more, for me a great shot is all about the feeling and emotion portrayed in an image and an actress can nail this every time, subtle is the key!

Just a slight raise of an eyebrow or a curl of the lip or eyes filled with intensity can transform an image and give it power, drawing the audience in.

This is what I focused on when working with Olivia and she made it sooooo easy!

Coupled with Dominic’s amazing hair and make-up (and styling.. man of many talents!) I worked with a mix of natural daylight and some flash to create the images, I love light that wraps itself around the subject, so I was in my element with this shoot!

I hope you like them! xx

Congratulations Cara & Henry for their feature in Perfect Weddings Fashion Special – Cara even made the front Cover!

Congratulations to Emma Ralley who has won the Caption Contest with “164 (the number of uk female spitfire pilots in WW2)”

The 164 women have been nicknamed the ‘Spitfire Women’ as it was their job to fly for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). This meant doing jobs such as flying planes which had been newly built, or moving them from base to base, or tentatively flying home broken ones. What’s really impressive is that they would fly without instruments, in bad weather and through enemy territory. They may not have zoomed into battle, but their role was vital and their task hard and difficult.

Not only did they have a war to deal with a long way above the ground in tin can, they also had to combat the misogyny they encountered from upper-class officers, politicians and male pilots. The only reason these women were allowed to fly was because of the desparate situation, it was them or no one.

In the beginning they were even expected to fly in stockings and skirts (in open air Tiger Moth planes) because such was the resistance towards them. A uniform would have meant acceptance. Eventually the women were allowed uniforms, apparently much to the shock and embarrassment of the tailors who had to measure them.

http://queensofvintage.com/wartime-heroes-the-spitfire-women

I had a great day doing a test shoot with the lovely Scarlet from FM Models in London and the wonderful hair & make-up artist Gina Dowle http://www.ginadowlemakeup.co.uk Scarlet is a new model with FM so needed a variety of images for her book, so we had great fun creating different looks for her, I am a big fan of directional lighting, so had a bit of a play here and after reading some great tips on Melissa Rodwell’s fashion blog last week, I thought I would play with my speedlite both in the studio and out on location, Great fun … cant wait for more test shoots next year

http://www.fashionphotographyblog.com/2010/10/how-i-use-speedlights/

http://www.studio600art.co.uk/