model scouting and shoot planning

As well as shooting a lot lately I have also been organising shoots for the coming weeks and scouting my own models for them. The other week I scouted a young girl called beth in Starbucks, Southampton. I was due to shoot her Saturday just gone (Sat 16th) but after much confusion I had to cancel the shoot and it is now rescheduled for Sat 6th April instead at RE:SO. Although Beth hasn't modelled much, I am confident that she she will be very photogenic and the shoot will go according to plan. Here is a shot of her I took in Starbucks and also her Facebook profile picture. The difference betwene the two is what makes me think she will be a good model:

Second recent shoot planned:

I have also been in touch with a friend of mine who is studying fashion styling at Solent University, Lora Foulsham. She is organising a fashion show for a designer named Sarina Mantle. Sarina has showcased previous collections at London fashion week and also Graduate fashion week and has agreed to let Lora organise a show and also shoot a look book for the collection. Lora approached me and asked if I would like to be the makeup artist for the look book and also to supply the model. By doing this I can tie the shoot in with my magazine as the model will be from my agency and I can feature the images in the issue also. Another bonus for collaborating with Lora is that I can also feature a written interview with Sarina herself. I am so excited for this shoot as I have been needing a key feature in the magazine as well as just the model profiles. This will be the exact content that the magazine needs to bump it up. It will also show a strong example of the agency's client base, that a new agency has collaborated with successful designers. 

Lora has sent me some of Sarina's sketches and ideas for the collection, along with some images of the makeup design she would like for the look book:

Makeup inspiration

Sarina has asked that we use an ethnic model to fit in with her collection. So I have requested a girl named Desiree Laidler to model for it. 

Desiree modeled for Brighton Fashion week and is currently unsigned by any agency. Her name was passed on to me by previous director of Brighton Fashion week and friend, Bianca Richards. 

I am extremely excited for the shoot, we are scheduled to shoot on Monday 8th at RE:SO in the Marlands shopping center. 

Layout Progress

Today I managed to actually get started playing around with my layouts in InDesign. I started off with a rough draft of a few of Alexa's profile pages. I can't start the front cover or contents pages yet as I would prefer to complete them last when I have shot all of the models and completed their profiles.

I really want to make the profiles personal to the agency and have tried out a slightly casual/arty yet still bold and editorial approach to Alexa's Layout. I have left thick borders on some images, often next to an image that stretches the full capacity of the page. This was an idea I gained when researching through 'Wonderland' and 'Dazed' magazines as the layouts in both publications is quite quirky. The images are placed to look simple yet punchy and I want to portray that in my magazine. 

I was inspired by the following layouts for "Mae's" all are taken from "Wonderland", "Dazed" or "Company". 

I really liked the black rectangular shapes with white writing inside them as they are quite quirky and personalised so I decided to try and recreate something similar within my work. Here is what I have achieved so far with my first draft of Alexa Baigent's profile:

The text in the lower right page is placed as a trial at the moment and will be a small Biography of Alexa when completed fully.

I have planned to give each model five double pages each which will result in me having alot more pages than I planned initially for the magazine however I feel this will only improve the aesthetic of the publication when finished.I am pleased with the layout so far and am keen to keep working on it. 

Shoot with Caroline

On Thursday I shot model Caroline Raymond with the help of Anni on photography and Sophie on styling. The shoot was at Solent University's vintage store RE:SO in the Marlands shopping centre. 

Here is an photo of the room we worked in on the day:

I was really excited to work in RE:SO as the room is very shabby chic styled and it has tall wooden panelled windows and walls. A perfect setting to shoot in. There were also vintage chairs, cups and saucers and stools too which we were allowed to use as props within our shoot. 

For this shoot Sophie styled all three looks for Caroline. The first was a black bandeau leotard for the natural shots and heels:

This outfit was perfect to start off the shoot with and gave strong visuals of Caroline's body shape and especially leg length. I also really loved that wall as the back drop for the shot. 

The second outfit was quite inspired by Missguided.com. They have a very edgy look to them and their models have a lot of attitude in their shots a persona and mould I thought Caroline could fit into well. This look was shot in disco pants, a crop top and a pair of Sophie's own customised sunglasses:

I think that by adding a range of attitudes and approaches to the model's profile it shows off their diversity and therefore they appear more employable to a wider range of clients. 

For the third look I wanted to make it very editorial and high fashion. I chose to go for a strong tailored look and informed Sophie of my vision. We both went by my Pinterest board I made for the look as a source of inspiration:

http://pinterest.com/chelseymae21/shoot-thursday-14th/

As you can see from my Pinterest page, key words for this look were:

-Bright

-Bold

-Colour

-Sharp

-Tailored

-Fierce

I feel Sophie got a really strong grasp of what I wanted to achieve and I was really happy with the outfit she produced for the shoot:

On this particular look I chose to change the lipstick half way through so there was a difference between the shots. Both lip colours go well with the outfit but I really wanted to incorporate the bright blue into some of the closer shots. The hair was slicked into a pony tail with a strong side parting and set in place with gel spray. I also wrapped a piece of hair around the hair band at the back so it wasn't visible. I feel the hair fitted well as it is a simple yet high fashion style. 

We also chose to incorporate another pair of Sophie's sunglasses for some of the shots in this look as it was an opportunity to advertise another pair. The glasses are plain white and customised with letters glued onto them reading "I spy with my little eye". 

Overall I am incredibly pleased with the images from this shoot. I have already began starting to organise the shots in the order they can be placed in the magazine layout and I feel this will be a strong spread in Caroline's feature. 

I have also learnt from this shoot that I highly benefit from using a stylist when shooting. It breaks down the amount of jobs for me in preparation for the shoot and brings someone elses's ideas into the concept which I love. I am really enjoying collaborating and the outcomes I am achieving in my work as a result of it.

Mae's development and promotion

A couple of weeks back I started an Instagram page for Mae's. This feautures behind the scenes shots of the shoots, inspiration images and shots of the girls on set as the shoot is going on! I got this idea from Working at Leni's last time I Interned there. For the week I was in charge of the agency's Instagram page and three times a day I had to post; images of publications their models had been in, Photos of the models' style, key pieces they like to wear etc. I really loved this idea as it gave a sense of personality to the agency, it made it approachable and fun to work with. I then decided I want to incorporate this into my own agency but feature a lot more behind the scenes images to really give the follower an insight into the workings of the agency, an almost secret exclusive view into the agency. This is a concept that will be presented to the client when they receive the magazine also, as it will have behind the scenes images, interviews and insider info to the agency, the client will feel welcomed into the agency and individualised as priority as they will have been one of few chosen to receive the magazine. 

Here are a couple of screen shots so far of the Instagram posts and account:

I have uploaded images that differentiate between makeup looks and on set images. The images introduce the girls. I also have my logo as the display picture. Although I aim to create a magazine as my final end product I have chosen to introduce an element of social media to advertise the production of the agency and raise awareness of the magazine soon to be published.

another model and a some collaboration

Last week I did another shoot with a model I scouted from university, Hettie. I noticed her in topshop in town and once I'd found her on Facebook I messaged her asking if she could model and she agreed straight away due to the fact that the shots would highly benefit her portfolio. I have found that as my image style is so high fashion and fitting for the modelling industry it has become a lot easier to recruit models than I expected. Hettie said to me on the shoot that she doesn't feel like she's wasting her time on the shoot and doesn't mind shooting for free when the image out come will be worth her while. It wasn't until we had gotten into the middle of the shoot that I realised Hettie was already with a small agency in London. This made me feel really privileged to be working with her as she also said that she doesn't often say yes to people when they ask her to model. 

On this particular shoot also, I chose to collaborate with a new photographer Analise Trotter. I had worked with Anni before in second year on a small shoot for a friend so I wanted to get back in contact with her in order to obtain a bit of variety between my shoots. I was obviously a bit nervous about the shoot as I was unsure of Anni's approach to shooting and how strong her skills are now from last year however I was pleasantly surprised! Anni works very technically and likes to have everything set up perfect. For Hettie's shoot we used two lights with umbrellas and  one beauty dish face on to the model with the camera on a tripod to make sure all the images were perfectly focussed, this way the shots were exactly how we needed them and all we had to worry about was the model and her poses. 

Here are a couple of my favourite images from the shoot:

The shoot consisted of three looks much like all the other shoots. The first one being simple, the second slightly more accessorised (with the headband in the images above) and the third being more editorial and stylised.

The third look was a real favourite of mine as I loved Hettie's eyebrows and took advantage of their thickness by brushing them upwards. Here are a few shots of the third look:

The look was shot with full length and also close up images so there was opportunity for beauty shots and also body shots. I really exaggerated the contouring and key facial features in this look as I wanted to make it punchy and strong. I also see the opportunity to change some of the images to black and white which is another reason why I exaggerated the makeup as it will stand out a lot more in the black and white shots.

I was really pleased with how the shoot with Hettie went. The shoot was one of the easiest and most laid back I had ever done as I hardly had to give Hettie any direction about her posing. It is clear to me that when using models who are with agencies, even if they are small ones, you guaranteed the shots you need with ease and without complication as the model knows how to work her body efficiently.

Also, from this shoot I learned that I should be more confident about working with different photographers and push to collaborate with other professionals more often. Anni's friend Sophie helped out on the shoot that day Sophie is an aspiring stylist and designer. I found that the shoots become more diverse and there is always a new person's opinion in the team which could pick up on inspiring ideas that others might not have. I really enjoyed working with Anni and will definitely shoot with her and Sophie again soon.  As a result of this collaboration also, I was able to recruit Sophie to style for me on my next planned shoot and also feature some of her customised Sunglasses in my shots. I can now feature her in an interview in the magazine as a stylist and designer and have guaranteed future work with her. A highly successful shoot! 

My next shoot is with another Solent student and also agency signed model, Caroline Raymond. I will be shooting with Anni and Sophie for this also and have a really good feeling about the shoot.

Model shoot-Giovanna

In the past week I have been sorting through and editing the images of Giovanna from the shoot. After discussing the images with Clementine I was able to pick through them and select the strongest for Giovanna's profile. 

I feel that the shoot was very successful and I was able to achieve shots suitable for the model profile.  Here are a few of the most successful shots, starting from the first two looks:

I really love the first one as it shows off G's body shape really well. The others also work well as they are natural and soft yet still give a strong representation of her face shape, hair length and clothing size. This is something I need to achieve with all my model profiles.

I also took shots of G before the shoot that were plain and natural so that they could feature in the 'polaroid' section of her profile along with her measurements written underneath the photos:

I think it will be good to differentiate between a natural polaroid shot and stronger fashion images for each model profile as it shows the diversity of the model and portrays them in different scenarios. In the industry all models are expected to present portfolio images on request so the client can see her as a blank canvas to work with. This is why I think featuring this in my magazine will be a strong and highly relevant addition.