On 9th August, the world started to feel just a little bit more normal, and as such I attended my first group shoot of 2020. Yep, it only took 8 months of the year to venture out into the world and actually start cracking on with some proper shooting. The shoot took place at the wonderful Montrose Studio in Stockport arranged by DandE Model Events.
I got to shoot with 5 of the best models I know in the business right now (yes, I'm a little biased as one of them is my girlfriend, but we'll gloss over that), Charlie Hex, Ellie-Mae Mallinson, Caity Molly, Summer Elson and Fay Jazza.
It was one of the hottest days on records (if you're one of those that believe what the Sun says on their front cover) and if you know Montrose studio at all, you'll know it's in a great big old mill with giant windows, so what you get is a kind of greenhouse feel. But, besides my extremely poor judgement in wearing jeans, the day couldn't have gone much better.
As usual, I shot all of these on my trust Canon EOS 5D Mk IV, using a combination of my Tamron 28-70mm f/2.8 lens and my Canon nifty fifty. There really was very little call for anything else.
My first shoot was with Charlie in the hay bales. A single light here was really all I needed, but I chose to throw a soft box in there too, to add pull away some (not all) of the shadows on the right hand side. The results were beyond my expectations and Charlie as always nailed the look.
My second shoot of the day was with the lovely Fay. I wanted to give this shoot a much darker look that most of the others. Where I wanted to accentuate the light in others, I really wanted a much higher contrast between the highlights and the shadows here. Fay really saw from the get go what I was trying to achieve and really brought what I saw in this room to life.
Next, I shot with Summer on the big pink bed. Summer is one of those models that I've wanted to shoot with for ages. If I hadn't have been so frankly inept in getting the lighting correct, this would've been a much smoother shoot. Unfortunately, I didn't end up with as many images from this shoot as I'd have liked, but those that I managed to capture, were brilliant.
And now, for something completely different. My first take on the exciting world of Pinup and boy, am I glad that I did. Phil, the wonderful owner of Montrose was on hand to teach me this wonderful new way of posing and directing models, and as such, we put Caity through her paces. What a trooper. She put herself in some, frankly, uncomfortable positions to get these wonderful images
As the day was drawing to a close, and everyone was becoming visibly more and more exhausted from the heat, I finally got to shoot with someone I've wanted to shoot with for quite a while. Ellie and finally got to shoot in Montrose's infamous 50's pinup style kitchen/diner set. I've wanted to shoot in this little room since I first saw it. What can I say about this shoot really? It was so much fun to finally shoot Ellie and I look forward to doing it again.
Then, just when I thought I'd taken my last shot, Charlie joined Ellie and I in the kitchen and we took some final shots before wrapping up for the day. I loved these, for the most part, for the spontaneity of it. And when you're working with two pros, looking their best, in a great location, it's difficult to take a bad photo. I had a real challenge narrowing them down, but you can't be too sentimental about these things.
I won't lie and say I nailed this one, but it's a bloody good one isn't it?
All in all, it was a hell of a good days shooting. I easily filled about 3 SD cards with images so I had a hard time deciding which ones to publish. If you ever get the chance to shoot at Montrose, I highly recommend that you do.
I will be blogging a lot more and it'll be a lot less of a "I did X, Y and Z" format, but it's my blog so ner. I'll try and talk more about the deeper meaning of the art and concept behind my photos. That's the thing missing on a group shoot like this. You're telling less of a story, so much as you are capturing what's in front of you for catching its sake. My medium lies much heavier in the story told within the concept. It's then up to me and my model (where applicable) to make that come to life. I prefer my photographs to have a deeper meaning.
So, in short, stay tuned for some actual bloggage, sprinkled with some introspective musings.
