AW19 Beauty Looks
Beauty is an area that I’ve been really keen to explore more and more. I’ve loved playing with make up myself since I was very young, and with my interests in skincare growing more and more (probably as I age and near closer and closer to 30!), this feels like quite a natural progression for me.
I’ve spent the last year building up my knowledge of shooting beauty - mainly through a lot of trial and error. It’s not the same as fashion - not at all! I’ve tried all kinds of things - crazy make up, no make up, flash, continuous lighting, natural light, the list goes on… but this shoot feels like the first time that I TRULY found my jam.
Hannah (above) was a model that I’ve wanted to photograph ever since I saw her on the package lists of The Hive. Sadly, she could never make most of my shoots (mainly due to her A Level exams - which she smashed btw). However, after months of trying, she could finally come. Needless to say she lived up to all of my expectations, and then some! I could photograph Hannah every day for the rest of my life.
Ruby was also a Hive model that I’d spotted a long time ago, and was waiting until I felt I could do her justice to bring her in for a shoot. She has truly got the most incredible eyes, and is as beautiful inside as she is out.
When Georgina (MUA) and I were chatting about what we wanted to do, I was keen to work on some of the upcoming AW19 trends. I headed to Vogue.com, Harpers Bazaar and the various other leading fashion websites, and pretty much just chose my favourite looks out of the coming season. The further into my career I go, the more I realise that I just want to keep things simple. As boring as that can be for some of the talent I work with, going a bit “crazy” just doesn’t suit the personality of my work. I’ve tried, and it just feels off. I absolutely adore these looks because of just how timeless they are.
The backdrop was a new addition as well. I’ve always shot on white, but wanted to bring in some warmth, and on a whim I ordered a “hazelnut” coloured paper backdrop from Wex, and I didn’t know how it would look until we started to shoot… and I’m in love. The warmth of the backdrop matches itself so well to the models’ skin tones.
As with most of my work, there’s hardly been any retouching here. I still struggle with how I feel about the ethics of it all… especially as a female who struggles with body image issues myself. I’m not sure I’ll ever know where I truly stand. But at least with these, it feels like the bare minimum has been done - to be honest, neither of them really needed any!
