Gabriella Howson: That Leggy Bird

My first subject since the upgrade to my beloved 7D, Gabby, was back again. This time for a studio shoot.

She got to Farnborough at 11am and we had our first cup of tea, unzipped the suitcase of womanly wonder and caught up a bit. She told me about all the bits and bobs that she had brought to wear including all the new holiday clothes, her 'Sienna Miller' dress and also, my favourite: ‘The Disappointment Hat’.

I have to explain the disappointment hat now that I have mentioned it’s name so that you know why it is disappointing: Gabby and Dom (brother) went to London Fashion week one year and Gabby found this really neat hat and belt, which she was dead chuffed with… at first… but then (the cheeky git) Dom ends up finding various amazing pieces including a really nice jacket, and I think a suit? and some other bits, leaving Gabby feeling a little disappointed with her items (or lack thereof) come home-time. Hence this becoming ‘The Disappointment Hat’.

Well, OK fine, I guess you had to be there.

So moving on (tough crowd…) O_O

We started out ‘Simples’ as is the norm. A bit of warming up. Howson got her green cardigan on and we did a couple of headshots. Literally a couple. Then we ended up chatting for about 2-3 hours drinking approximately… 120 cups of tea? Approximately.

Then we decided to change outfit. The cardigan was nice and all, but a bit boring, which Gabby is not.

Light green. Bracelet, top and necklace. Holiday wear to be precise:

What a face! So beautiful!

(I really am quite lucky in that I have so many beautiful friends really.
It sure helps with a profession like photography!)

Lovely. And looking a bit like Lena Headey again in that last one!

Our 121st cup of tea:

We went for an elegant black outfit, again on black and Gabby was looking amazing as per. She scrubs up lovely for a posh bird (as Bill Bailey would say).

OK, then we had the snazzy looking cardigan. Wicked colours for a good start on the white:

In which Gabby started pulling her Lena Headey face again.

Seriously, do you not think so!? Sometimes, she really does look like her. Or Lena Headey looks like Gabby. More than likely. I knew Gabby before I saw Lena.

I'll just have to dress her up as Cersei Lannister and then you'll see. Oh yes. You'll see...

OK. NEXT! Look at this dress:

I ♥ this dress SO much.

It's all officey, heavy material and grey (though I like grey) but then the cut is just fantastic. WANT!

And Gabby in this dress is just… well…

Thanks Wayne. That's exactly what I was getting at.

Party on.

So, While we're on dresses, we got through a couple of those too.

There was the colourful, patterned one with the hat:

There was the 'very expensive oneo (don't touch it, don't touch it, don't touch it...)

Cute as hell.

Then we had the extremely colourful holiday dress. Which I also love:

She looks so catalogue in that one. :D

Backlit, for a lovely headshot. Mwah.

Close up.

And then more of an artistic Beauty shot. :)

Finally, as is seemingly becoming tradition on my shoots (I swear that this is not mandatory!), we had a little bit of partial nudity...

And the last in a 300 style colouring... for no particular reason...

<_<

>_>

Well folks, that's a wrap for that shoot though keep your eyes open as one, you might fall down the stairs otherwise and two, our stunning, 6ft tall, leggy IT/LARP geek goddess may well be coming back to see yours truly in January/February for another round.

*ding ding*

Wicked.

Ceri Williams: Foxcub or Vixen?

Here she comes again.

Ceri Williams. Saturday 17th September.

Unfortunately, we had no Rachel today. She must have other friends or something... (boo, hiss).

Ceri arrived at 10am with her newly orange-red hair. We took a couple of shots, and then she went for her hairdressers appointment.

We wanted to get a variety of looks. To start off with we went for:

Something simple.

Something alternative.

Something edgy.

Something cute.

Something happy.

... and something relatable. :D

And then we broke out the hairdye for a change of feel. This time, a darker red.

It looked hot.

So we spiced it up a bit.

Oh yeaaah!

I ♥ these.

Especially that one ->

Anyway, the hair, I think, kicked it up a notch. We pretty much built a whole portfolio. We had:

Headshot:

Strong yet feminine:

Pure:

Pretty:

Elegant (another favourite):

Fun:

And hatful:

We had a great day all 'round. We had £30 worth of Domino's pizza, a wonderful cup of tea courtesy of Robin Gould, fight co-ordinator extraordinnaire and live music from the musical prodigy himself, Matt Evans.

Like this? Look out for our next shoot on the 1st October. Where The Nicholson will be present once again saving me the hassle of attempting make-up. Urgh.

Actually, speaking of Nicholson, if you find yourself at all fond of the artistic touch she has brought to the shoot table, please spare the time to visit her recently-created Facebook page and 'like' to show your support. Thanks.

Rachel Nicholson: Make-up Artist

Alyssa Johnson: Secret Sex Kitten

Alyssa Johnson and I had been meaning to work together for a fair while. We wanted to wait until we had the right opportunity as Alyssa had a fab idea for a shoot and we wanted it to be perfect. Wanting perfection, I also enlisted the help of the ever-beautiful Rachel Nicholson for the make-up. (Yes, again. What can I say? I like variety but she's really good!).

So Alyssa and I decide on a date, the 13th August (I know, risky!) and somehow, the most wonderful Pete Baldrey (aka. ClickMore) finds it in his heart to open up his studio doors for us at 10am despite having LITERALLY just flown back from Greece the following night and therefore being subject to a heavy dose of The Jetlag. We like Pete a lot.

After a cup of tea, Rachel Nicholson got started on the make-up as is becoming the usual drill. I set up the backdrop and lights whilst keeping an eye out for Rehea Watson (you may recall from a previous blog) on Soccer AM. The most beautiful Soccerette there has ever been, I am sure of it:

Now, not many things things can convince me to watch a football-related programme, but I have to say, Rehea Watson, the leggy stunner is definitely one of the exceptions!

Here she is on the Soccerettes' website!

http://www.socceram.com/soccerettes/0,21655,13874_7091854,00.html

Meanwhile, as you can see below, the make-up was coming along rather beautifully. I took a couple of pictures along the way (obviously) and Alyssa was painted up nice.

We had a couple of quick looks at Jessie J for a little inspiration (she does take a very good picture, that one) as Alyssa had mentioned her previously and then in no time at all, we were off!)

Alyssa is part St Helena'n which apparently accounts for this stunningly curvy bottom of hers. I mean, seriously, just look at it. Wow.

I would apologise to Alyssa for objectifying her a little in that previous statement but I'm actually not sorry in the slightest. I'm sure all of you are more than happy to know that she is also a really intelligent, funny and kind young lady but that we clearly aren't studying those aspects of her so closely at present.

So that was using the honeycomb like a spotlight to get that sexy ringleader look with the hat and cane. This lighting was easily the best for this set and I found it hard to choose my favourite edit.

Despite that being the better lighting for shapes and shadows, I also was rather fond of this following shot (a good one for you Rach, stellar job).

After this bit, unfortunately (I had to hold back some tears) Alyssa had to go and wash all of the make-up off. *sob*

We stopped for pizza, again provided by Pete. *worship worship* So big thanks for that or we might have starved. I forget to eat when I'm shooting you see and then other people go hungry thinking I must be stopping for food soon... Soon right?... Right Chloe?... Nope. I starve them. Quite mean really but certainly not deliberate. Accidentally evil. Yes.

So, a generous-sized portion of ClickMore pizza each (guzzled like little piggies) and a little rest. Alyssa half-naked and wearing her undies and a really gorgeous little wrap around whilst she ate and then had the next round of make-up applied. We were doing lingerie next. Exciting.

I set up the next load of lighting and backdrop stuffs. Put something comfy down and covered it over in backdrop. Worked rather nicely, I think:

That was a softbox up by the face and another dimmer one up high shining down over the body. I liked it as I think it gave a beautiful tone and shade variety that highlighted all of Alyssa's shapes and curves rather well.

Also adore the following shot. Same lighting but a lot more powerful, I think. Gorgeous expression from Alyssa and I think it just really highlights those eyes of hers. Especially with the delicate blue eyeshadow.

Then we had the flowery shorts! Love these.

Cute on a stool!:

And I got a couple of lovely headshots too!

... and of Rachel:

And of course, one of me, courtesy of Rachel:

Stunner.