A story behind every photo...

This is a photograph from a recent photo shoot I did for a make up artist. I liked this photograph most of all so thought I'd post it to my blog. 

The story behind this shoot, was that the make up artist (Joanna) runs an online retro-vintage clothes store. All of the pieces she sells are unique one-off items, and she had a few which needed photographing for her site. This particular item was a pussy-cat bow blouse. 

We decided to theme the shoot. I like to make little stories about photo shoots, I've always been interested in stories since I was a kid. Before I got into photography, I used to spend a lot of my spare time writing, so I'm driven by plots, narrative, and characters and that's something I try to bring into my photographs. 


The theme of this shoot was to create four different personas for each of the outfits. We decided that we'd go with different card suits for this. The pussycat bow was teamed with a pair of killer heels and a black leather pencil skirt. This was the Queen of Spades look. Our Diamond queen wore leopard print leggings, a shiny quilted clutch bag, and a black bodysuit. Our Jack (or Jill) of Clubs went for a clubber look (of course!), with a MC Hammer pink t-shirt, black leggings, and a wild sequins boyfriend blazer. Finally, the Queen of Hearts was dolled up to look like a 50's pin-up girl.

The thing I enjoy about these sorts of shoots, is that I have this chance to get quite experimental. It's hard work - but half the hard work really comes through the non-camera based work. 


Before I started really getting into photography, studying it, when I was taking photos for pleasure and starting out, I didn't really consider the volume of work involved behind the picture. However, when I started to take photography more seriously, I noticed how things changed. If I'm honest, I probably took less photos the more seriously I took photography. 


A shoot like this involves a lot of ground work before the button is pressed. Researching the idea, buying a background (B&Q, if you're interested), looking at what had been done before, and deciding to model the cards on 1970s style novelty playing cards, agreeing on how the photographs ought to look, what we'd do, what we wanted and didn't want. I even made a mock-up to see what I'd need to consider before I took a photograph. And that's not even the whole story as it only covers my involvement. 


After the shoot, I got to work on editing the photos. 


Although I don't take a machine-gun approach to my photography, I do make sure I take as many as I can. My approach is about getting the set up right first - so there are always test shots for exposure, particularly when the model changes clothes as different fabrics might need different lighting adjustments to make the photo work. Then we get into the actual shoot itself. 


We worked on different poses - what suited the model (Romy) best, what angles showed the clothes off to their best advantage, and what portrayed the character we were trying to create. Romy was great in this shoot - she really embraced the different characters and what we were trying to do, offering poses and suggestions and being pro-active in front of the camera, which was really important for me. 


I'll be honest, I'm a bit of a liar when it comes to a shoot. I usually say "just one or two more", and will fire off more than just the one or two I request. I can't help it: if something's working well, I take full advantage while I can.


Editing always takes time. I'll compare images carefully, and narrow down my selection. I divide my photographs into groups. I've got a pretty good idea of exactly what I'm looking for in a photograph, but I like to give my clients options, selecting the top cuts from each group. I also try to be aware if the client made any special requests as to shots they specifically wanted. In this case, Joanna wanted  a close up photograph of Romy's face to showcase her make up artistry - the photograph shown at the start of this entry. 

I suppose editing might seem like the easy bit, or that things can be automatically fixed by Photoshop. Photoshop has many wonderful features, but it can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. 

The idea through research and planning, is to help make sure that as much goes right before taking the photograph. There's no substitute for getting the photograph right in camera. Editing afterwards should be about enhancing what is there and removing what couldn't be avoided, for example pylons surrounding a location where there's otherwise a beautiful vista.

Sitting in front of a computer for hours, painstakingly editing photographs is hard work. Its a bit like sitting writing a business report, or analysing statistics in a spreadsheet for hours on end. You end up poring over details, cross-checking to see whether you've kept things consistent. I'm doing the same thing as I would in a darkroom. Admittedly, I'm not getting a sore back from standing over an enlarger in a darkroom, my eyesight trying to focus on something that's dimly lit and negative, my clothes stinking of chemicals from fixer and developer agents. However, much like staring at numbers on a spreadsheet, after a while, I do get cramps in my hand and need to get out my chair and stretch (it's usually around then that someone might call and ask "have you finished yet?"). I have to admit however that I enjoy editing photographs - if the hard work involved was demotivating and soul-destroying, I don't think I could continue in this line of work.


When I'm booked by a client, it's not just my ability to hold a camera that they're paying for. There's a lot of work that goes into each of those photographs before I've pressed a button, and after I've put my camera away. You've probably heard of the Pareto principle, and I suppose in this case the physical act of photographing only accounts for 20% of the work involved - the remaining 80% is image research and editing. 

Every photograph has a story to tell, including its own story of how that photograph was created from start to finish.

In the gardens

It's been a while since my last blog post, on the basis I've actually been very busy lately! In the past fortnight, I've had three separate shoots, which means three lots of editing of photographs afterwards. 

This particular post is about a personal project I've recently completed. The reason I'm writing about these photographs is basically because I really like them, and also because I like to keep working on all sorts of photographic projects whenever I can. Sometimes the influences from a shoot like this can end up being used for a bridal or portraiture shoot. I like to keep working at my photography, whether someone else plans the shoot, or its one I create myself. At any rate, personal projects keep me out of mischief. 

This photoshoot has been on the cards for a while now - it's something I've wanted to do, and as with all my most successful shoots, took a fair amount of organising, planning, and researching before I could even click the button and take the first photograph. I must admit, I was hugely nervous about this shoot. Why? Because of all the people involved, the planning, and organising, and even the weather, absolutely everything had gone perfectly right. When everything else goes right it does leave me to get on with the photographic side, and I always reserve a little nervousness for something going wrong during the shoot. I think it's simply because I care about what I do - I want to get it right, I want to exceed my own expectations, and I want to deliver success back to everyone else involved in the shoot.

 Outdoor photoshoots in Scotland can be hit or miss, in terms of the weather. Autumnal photoshoots are never a certain thing, and I spent the best part of ten days leading up to the shoot watching the weather forecast online, much like watching the lottery to see if your numbers appear. As it happened, we were exceptionately lucky. The entire week was blighted by bad weather on and off, but our shoot happened on the one day in weeks when we had unusually good weather. Being in Scotland, I do have to come prepared for a shoot. So I had some lovely colourful brollies in the event of a shower, and some nice fleecy blankets to keep the girls snug between shots.

The dresses and all the clothes used in the photoshoot were provided by Wendy from Flossy and Dossy. I was keen to work with Wendy when I saw her clothes, as I had a particular shot in mind that I wanted to create. I thought that they would be perfect in this setting.

As with any shoot I work on, I usually end up with more props than I end up using - but mostly tools and props that I can and do end up using again.

I was working with Kathryn Hughes the make up artist. I've worked with Kathryn quite a few times previously. I must admit, when I find a great make up artist, I make a point of working with them again. Kathryn and I started by comparing ideas and research as to the look we wanted for the shoot. I'm inclined to leave more of it in her hands, mostly because I know she delivers a good quality service and I trust her. But also perhaps because I occasionally have a tendency to see every idea and think "yeah! lets do that!", and if we actually went with every idea, the girls' faces would end up looking like they'd been dragged through a make-up counter backwards. 

My assistant for the day was Laura Hughes (no relation to Kathryn), who I know from my student days as a fellow photographer. Working with other photographers enables me to have someone to bounce ideas off, and someone who understands how the kit works, and can see the things I'm trying to create. 

The lovely models are Lainey Virginia Brown, and Melanie Long. Although this was my first time working with them, they were both very professional in their work, despite the long day! 

Without a committed team, I don't think the shoot would have gone as well as it did. I felt afterwards that the photographs produced met exactly to the original plan, and if I'm honest, I feel they've exceeded my own expectations. 

These photographs are currently featured (alongside more photographs) on my commercial photography website: 

http://www.kristinmitchell.co.uk in the fashion section.

Viewpark Gardens was a fantastic venue for this shoot - although now closed to the public for the winter, it's still available for bridal parties throughout the year. I think it makes a wonderful wedding photography backdrop particularly where the budget might not match the cost of a country mansion with beautiful grounds to wander round in.