Play your cards right

A nightclub, a gorgeous model and a pack of cards and we recreate a casino in a Essex nightclub during the day.

Hayley is our card shark and the lovely granite bar surface provided the reflections that create the  drama the shot needed. 

With a little imagination a simple deck of cards can tell a story.

pete

Hold onto your hat

Bit of a black and white theme this week so I won't fight it with this post.

Hannah came to our fashion portrait photoshoot already equipped with this fine hat and it helped add a certain style to the shoot. 

Fashion portraits aren't all about mega complex set up's - sometimes all it takes is a furry hat.

pete

It's not smart and it's not clever

Smoking.  Not great for your health but it looks pretty cool in a portrait photograph.

I use a lot of props in my shoots (I've talked about that in previous blog posts) and I've become known as 'the prop guy' amongst a circle of photographers I know.  Could be worse.

Remember kids Alison here is a trained model and an adult.  She knows what she is doing.

pete

Hair raising

When you have great hair like Alison and the wind is blowing you just have to work with it.

That is the lesson we learnt after a few minutes trying to capture this pose - Alison's hair was the star of the shoot and wasn't going to let us forget it.

Hair like you just stepped out of a salon....into a hurricane and all the better for it.

pete

Blade

I have mentioned before how well I feel props can help when you are shooting a portrait.

For Ram these two samurai swords (perfectly legal I assure you) were perfect - the moment he took the swords in his hands he went all ninja.  As a fitness model they gave us an excuse to show off all his hard work and he works hard.

So if there is a movie studio out there looking for their next action hero then here he is.

pete