Kiera Gould: Ass-Kicking Stunt Goddess

This is Kiera:

(not my picture :( )

You may or may not know (depends how long you’ve been stalking ;) ) that I’ve worked with Kiera on several occasions.

We’ve had about 6 photo shoots over the past 3 years, including my ‘signature’ photo, the Masquerade shot, taken on my very first shoot, and then of course she’s been in all of the films I’ve done some stills for, often being shot at, being the sh*t out of somebody or being set on fire. Kiera, you see, is a stunt performer. And she’s hard as nails.

Bearing all this in mind, she is also absolutely beautiful.

Here’s her website:

www.kieragould.com

Go ahead, take a look, I’ll wait...

*whistle*

<_<

... tum ti tum...

>_>

Good, isn’t she?

Anyway, she came out to see me on Sunday the 9^th October as I was doing a very specific shoot involving some vintage wear, and someone riding my Harley Davidson.

Now then, nobody rides my babe-magnet, Angus but me but if I wanted the shot I was after that badly I was going to have to make an exception. I contacted Kiera to see if she wanted to undertake this quest of bikery, because if I’m going to let anybody ride my precious two-wheeled tractor, it has to be her, and she happily accepted.

Now I had to let her ride it. Eek!

She turned up at my place in Farnborough and Rachel Nicholson did some AWESOME makeup that I love love love and we (Myself, Angus, Kiera, Rachel and Simon (motor photographer)) set out to the Wellington Statue in Aldershot.

I rode the Harley there and parked up on the side.

Image courtesy of Simon Amphlett

Kiera sat on the bike (*wince*ohmygodamIreallylettingthishappen!?) and I pointed out the ignition, gears, etc which of course she knew already but it made me feel better. Well, not really.

It’s not that I didn’t trust Kiera, don’t get me wrong. But she likes explosions and I wasn’t really for my Steel Horse to be put to death just yet.

I told Kiera to ride up the road slowly-ish and turn ‘round so she was comfortable and off she rode on my beloved ride.

AhhhI’vechangedmymindcomebackhelpohpleasebegentle

It came back! She brought it back and it wasn’t on fire or anything! *BREATHE!*

And so, feeling a bit better, I set up my camera on Simon’s tripod (oi oi!) and made her ride up and down the road until I got the shot I was looking for.

This shot, to be precise:

The image was insipred by an image taken by Ronald Traeger in 1967 of Twiggy. See original below:

It wasn't quite right as mine looks a bit dark in comparison as there wasn't so much sun unfortunately... but we did get this one:

And I'm pretty darn chuffed with that one. So all is not lost! :)

So my darling baby came back in one piece AND I got a shot with my beautiful Angus looking shiny to put in my portfolio. Eeee! Happy noises!

Next post from shoot with Kiera on Saturday 22nd October up next...

Marlyn Woodend: The Natural

I worked with Marlyn Woodend a while back (you may remember from the 'Pure Curvation' day) and we decided to work together again shortly after.

Marlyn is an amazing model. She's fairly new to it all still but she's already done so very much. She's been shooting all over and been catwalking on some amazing fashion shows.

The girl is a natural. And she's incredibly determined. I'll be surprised if she's not published in some high class fashion magazines before long.

So here was our shoot from Saturday 8th October:

Started off with this beautifully fitted jumper dress and some soft and subtle light.

This next picture, I have to admit, I love. One of my favourites from this shoot. Using just one raised softbox:

The same lighting again. We both liked this one.

This one shows off Marlyn's height. She's a bit tall (5'9). :D  

Bit of a leggy beast.

 Always important to a model's portfolio, showing off your Docs. ;D

A nice innocent image of Marlyn in pigtails. Aww. Her Nan'd love it.

Because you can never have too many ribbons?:

I was fed up of her staring ;)

Love this outfit. Strong fashion image (as if she didn't have enough of those):

At this particular moment in time, this is my favourite image from the shoot.
'The One'

This one was done on the white balance setting for working under a Tungsten, believe it or not. I love the effect this has.

(I wouldn't even know what I could do with my white balance if it wasn't for a certain

Simon Amphlett

A good friend of mine who is rather partial to a bit of the ol' motor photography.)

And then of course, we got this sexy little image of Marlyn's inner bad girl ;)

Love it.

 Marlyn has recently signed up with Pure Curvation Model Management and I would definitely recommend her. She really is fantastic and you'd get incredible shots from this girl.

She's a fun, friendly and extremely talented young lady.

Keep your eyes peeled for more.

And you'd best 'like' her new Facebook page or there'll be trouble!

Marlyn on Facebook

FacetNation: Jewellery by Amy Lee Hubbard

What is FacetNation?

If you haven’t heard of FacetNation, then let me enlighten you:

FacetNation is the place to go when you want contemporary, unique silver jewellery. It is all lovingly hand-crafted by the wonderful (and talented) Miss Amy Lee Hubbard. There are such fantastic designs as the ‘High’Tea’ collection, which is a vintage range inspired by doilies and include lots of lovely freshwater pearls. She is also a big fan of rough-cut gemstones, (Check out the ‘Amulet Range’ for these) which is a bonus for me. I like them. Yum yum. Plus, she has a rather unique fingerprint-inspired range which is really quite pretty!

All her designs are unique and are made completely, from start to finish, by Amy in her home workshop. This apparently includes hammering away at the silver for long periods of time for the purpose of shaping and even soaking her pieces in acid baths for a while in order to get that final etched design on there. Sheesh. George John Haigh, eat your heart out (not a serious suggestion, you crazy bugger).

Now then, obviously a shoot is involved somewhere along the line so I’ll stop playing hard to get. We arranged this shoot a couple of weeks ago and I went and collected a variety of FacetNation pieces from Amy on Wednesday evening (28^th Sept).

Our model today: the ever-popular Ceri Williams. Make-up: by the wonderfully talented Rachel Nicholson. A very exciting line-up. Got started almost right away (after playing with all the jewellery, ooh shiny), got the make up done, Rachel completed a horrendously difficult task of getting all Ceri's hair up into a teeny tiny bun and we got the music on.

And here’s what we got:

The latest: ‘High Tea’ Range

All made with etched sterling silver and freshwater pearls.

Made to size and finished to a professional standard with hallmarking and oxidisation.

Another hair and make-up change.
(kudos for Rach on the hair again aswell!? Is there no end to her talent?):

And then?

The ‘Amulet’ Range

All made with sterling silver and genuine uncut crystals and stones set in resin.

All equally stunning, made to size and customisable.

And another make up change (though this change and set was done before the Amulet range) Rachel again, did the hair and make-up whilst Little Miss Diva entertained herself on her phone rather than converse with the likes of us lowly workers:

Other popular pieces from FacetNation include:

Red Baroque Pearl and Garnet necklace

Caged Zoisite Necklace

Fingerprint Double Brooch

(not usually worn on head ;D)

This, I think, is a beautiful idea. Here is a double brooch that has actually been made using Amy’s ‘custom fingerprint’ design.

The idea of this is to have a bespoke keepsake item which contains a transfer of yours or your loved one’s fingerprint. Each and every piece unique and personal. You can have this on a brooch, a ring, necklace, earrings, etc. The possibilities are endless. (N.B. that could be a bit of hyperbole, right there… possibly not ‘endless’ maybe just extensive. :D )

So if you’ve like what you’ve seen here, why not check out FacetNation’s website here to get your own paws on some of this beautiful jewellery.

http://www.facetnation.co.uk/

AND!

Follow on Twitter @FacetNation where Amy let’s us know when she has any sale pieces or offers and when FacetNation can be seen in magazines and featured in competitions and exhibitions! Phew!

AND!

Come and have a look at the Facebook page! Always an easy way to keep an eye on your favourite smaller businesses! Don’t forget to hit ‘Like’!

http://www.facebook.com/FacetNationJewellery

Don’t forget also, it’s nearly Christmas. Why not order a custom piece for your Mum/Gran/Sister/Daughter/Auntie/Cousin/Friend/Cat? You could get your finger prints all over their jewellery (become a fashion accessory yourself in a way), order something vintage looking from the ‘High Tea’ range based on their favourite doily OR just get their favourite gemstone set into a silver pendant.

This is approximately how happy you could make them:

That's pretty happy.

 Don’t miss out.