I woke up to the news that Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, died at only 50 years old; I’m 50 years old…

Life is the most precious commodity we will ever own; we must push ourselves, challenge ourselves and seek out the things that pull us; with that in mind I’ve been ramping up my photography again, and there is no better way than to photograph a model in unfamiliar surroundings.

In the past year, I’ve had the pleasure to know Becky (Bex) a little better. She’s young, layered, kind, empowered and vivacious. I wanted to know what the camera revealed.

We had planned several dates to do a shoot, but it never happened for various reasons. Finally we locked down 26th March (it’s March 2022 already?) for a shooting date.

I’ll confess, I like being in control in my shooting days; even at weddings I always know where, who, when and why before the big day itself. However, because Becky doesn’t drive so can’t come to my studio in Aylesbury, I had to drive up to Whitney to photograph her in unknown locations, unknown environments and an untested subject; being photogenic isn’t enough for me, I want a subject shine beyond the surface and reveal what hides deep down.

At this point, I must say a big thank you to my assistant Ruth; I asked her to help with the equipment and openly challenge me about ideas. Her help was immeasurable.

Today is just a teaser, I’ll be releasing more as I finish the edits.

The Morning

I was absolutely reliant on Becky when I came to locations; in my head I had a rough idea of ‘scenes’ throughout the day, the first one being the ‘Morning coffee’ shoot. It just so happens the first location was at her home. The cosy little cottage had great light and shadow contrast; I asked Becky to get cosy by the window with her legs propped up on the chair, then with a bit of help from Ruth and a “coriander” I was able to get the effect I wanted.

It took a bit longer than I wanted to get the day moving, so we were already behind schedule; but it was more important I keep the mood fresh and reactive.

Sofa, so good

When I was pleased with the “Coriander” shot, I noticed a vintage brown leather sofa, I wanted to use that in the next batch of shots. Becky came down in pink joggers which were amazing, but didn’t work with the brown sofa. Instead I reverted back to my primary idea; that was to focus on Becky’s best characteristics; her stunning blue eyes, and her lips. This is why my 105mm Macro lens was essential for what I wanted; with the help of a golden reflector I able to balance the light from my left side, then tone it down in the final edit.

Throughout thousands of photos I’ve taken, I’m loving macro photography, and cropped composition as my favourite ‘style’. So by applying both styles on the camera (rather than the edit) I knew I got what I wanted.

Ocean Eyes

I’m quite direct when getting through that ‘getting deeper’ stage of anyone I’m interested in; so I asked Becky what her favourite physical attributes are, and she said “eyes”. I couldn’t agree more. She has the most intense blue eyes I’ve ever seen, but photographing her eyes alone is BORING. I wanted to frame her in a doorway with the sun behind her.

Becky’s other quality is that she is perfectly symmetrical (which is funny, because like everyone else I’ve photographed, they have a “Best side”). Because of her symmetry I can offset that with hard lines; I attempted that with the door frame but it didn’t work, I did not have full control of the room, I had no room to maneuver therefore no room to get the light I wanted so abandoned that idea. Instead I asked Becky if she could wet her hair, which I obliged, but I then asked if she would wet her face to give me the ‘straight out of a shower’ but she blocked that idea straight away so that was a compromised set of photos, but I was satisfied with the results.

Purple Gold

Because the environment was out of my control I did everything I could find shade, the weather was warm and inviting, but not good for my photos. I’m not interested in just the light, I love shadows, I love the contrast. I love photos that give that struggle between light and dark.

So, it wasn’t until a bit later in the day that the ‘outside’ became more interesting. Becky came downstairs in a beautiful purple Kimono (or Komodo as I called it). She described her wardrobe as predominantly black and white so I loved it when she came out in purple.

Becky directed us to a nearby footpath. There was a bridge which I loved. The geometry of bridges have always fascinated me so I took advantage of that.

As we moved onto the path itself, the light hue was changing; Golden Hour was coming upon us.

I took advantage of the light, the path and of course Becky’s fabulous Kimono. She looked happy and radiant. She responded well to my directions. I’ll confess, Becky looked amazing because the elements were not in my favour, the photos came out ‘ok’ rather than spectacular.