She was never lovelier (Part 1)

My latest (well, one of the last ones before my operation) behind the camera venture was with the ever gorgeous Zoe. After poring over my well-cherished Richard Avedon and Irving Penn photography books, I decided I wanted to try something new - namely an entirely monochrome shoot. From there, everything slotted into place. I flicked through my moodboard book (invaluable for providing inspiration),  and found one I'd put together based on Hollywood Glamour. Couple this with a few recently watched vintage movies such as Top Hat and Sabrina, and the idea was born.

In fact, the title of this post is a referemce to a Fred Astaire film called 'You were never lovelier'. He was a mesmerising dancer. Having said that, so were Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor (not to mention Debbie Reynolds) in 'Singin' in the Rain' - my new favourite film!

 I took the idea of Zoe being a thirties or forties screen siren - beautiful clothes, a natural grace and classic looks. I really love working in black and white. It's an interesting exercise in focusing on lines, shapes and light rather than being distracted by colours. Although I don't feature them on my blog, I work a lot in doing black and white portraiture too. I will never tire of being fascinated by the human face - from baby to great-grandma. Most of my friends and family are now used to me whipping out my camera discreetly and hovering surreptitiously.

For the first look, I styled Zoe in a thirties black lace dress belonging to my mum, over a thrifted black body-con dress. Zoe had to gingerly climb over a gate in this ensemble, with me watching nervously, praying the nothing would happen to the fragile lace.. I added my favourite vintage belt (it belonged to my paternal grandma), a glass bead necklace from my maternal great-grandma and some charity shopped peep toe shoes.

Part of the second outfit already had an outing on my blog a long time ago, albeit in a much more colourful shoot (To the lighthouse). This absolutely amazing skirt was given to me by mum's second cousin. The swirling panels have been stitched together in such a way that it flares out at the bottom - perfect for twirling around in! To this I added a charity shopped black top, a crystal pendant that used to belong to my great-grandma, and some Mary-Janes I used to own and subsequently gave to Zoe.

The third (taken in front of some velvet curtains artfully draped over the tree house in our garden!) is a satin evening coat that was bought by my mum ages ago at a flea market, for fifteen pounds. Yes, let me repeat that - fifteen pounds!!Aren't the buttons amazing? She's also wearing an art deco necklace I've had since I was little.

The locations are all places surrounding where I live. Although you can't see it, in the first photo Zoe is actually posing inside a hollow tree. I chose very rural locations to contrast with the sophisticated style, creating a juxtaposition between landscape and subject. I doubt I will ever be bored of taking photos in fields and woods, or of using natural light for that matter... Talking of light, it was a perfect late afternoon (we managed to squeeze this in after school one day) for photography - neither too harsh nor too dull. I would call it sun-kissed if that wasn't cliched. Zoe and I finally finished as the sun set behind us, and we scampered back inside for some well deserved cups of tea and cake.

Note - I will be anouncing the winners of my mummy's scissors giveaway (along with what I hope will be an extended link list) in my next post. But in the meantime, do take a look at some of the gorgeous creations I listed in previous posts.

She was never lovelier (Part 1) 2010-11-09T04:06:00-08:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Unknown