Hello! Its been a while, I know! Apologies, but my upcoming posts are going to be well worth wait. So lets get down to it. Over the past 5 years or so Ive watched the Americas Next Top Model series and subsequent Britains Next Top Model series with interest. Mainly to see what mental shoot ideas they have come up with. Occasionally poaching the odd idea or lighting setup. Its always fun to see how the models cope, or not in some cases. Being a TV and movie fan, I find it easy to immerse myself in whatever I am watching. Allow me to set the scene…I am watching the first episode of a new series and format of Britains Next Top Model. So far so good.
The judging panel seems a pretty good lineup. I am mentally narrowing down the 15 girls to 12. Ive got my finalists in my head, then bang… The first model on my list is out in the first show! There’s no alternative, I take to Twitter to express my disgust in the decision and offer some support to the unfortunate model. Much to my surprise, she’s pretty local to me in the New Forest. I offer my thoughts to Charlotte Roffey over twitter and Instagram, not really expecting a response. Then things got interesting. She replied, so i expressed an interest in shooting with her. Before I know it, its all set up. Day made… Who cares about the tv competition! 😀
I had been working hard to identify what was missing in my portfolio. I shoot a lot of swimwear, mainly due to my proximity to the beach. Two of the best in the UK are within an hours drive. It is however, February… brrrrrrrr. Location shoot is out of the question, however I wanted to add some high end swimwear studio shots to my portfolio. Perfect idea! Next stop, some swimwear. I got in touch with my contact and friend, Connie who is based in Sunny Los Angeles.
I explained what I was doing, she was happy to be involved and put some swimwear in the post. Check out Amour Swimwear’s websiteMy next thought; Makeup Artist. High end fashion photography is only as good as the people you work with. My usual makeup artists were unavailable, so i looked at my list of other potentials. Ying was my first contact, she works for Estee Lauder and her work is awesome. We had never found times that worked for us both in the past, but this time, it was meant to be.
Team assembled, it was time to shoot! The shoot was super relaxed just how I like it. We got some inside gossip on her time in the show and got on with business. Charlotte just rocked this shoot. Everything I was thinking of asking her to do, she just did it before I got chance, direction was not needed. Britain’s Next Top Model missed out BIG STYLEE!
My original plan was to shoot against a red backdrop, however after some thought I decided to use blue. I wanted the colour to graduate a bit so I placed my lights so they would only light a percentage of the background. Then it was over to Charlotte to do her thing.
I decided I should give the red backdrop a go as well, so after the outfit change, we did a few on blue and then put the red up. I am delighted with the results, and I look forward to working with Charlotte Roffey again. Lets hope she gets on in the modelling industry as she deserves the success.I am available for commissions, get in touch by email dg@davidgreensmith.co.uk or call me direct on 07590901488