A hyper wolf and a wild girl

This was one of my most frustrating yet sort of happiest shoots in a very very long time! I decided to experiment with flash - something I'm not very familiar with, and if it wasn't for Ian Mears I bet I would have thrown the flash into the forest and never looked for it again! 

Coyla MacPherson (who once more is utterly gorgeous) modeled for us again. I absolutely love shooting with her. She's able to really understand what I have in mind, and portray it in the shots! 

Robyn Skinner went above and beyond on the day! Not only did she do a beautiful job with the make up and hair - she was the official dog walker and treat handler! She was able to help us keep Sire under control!

And Siah, pronounced like Sire, (the wolf-like canine) was a star. He was such a funny puppy! While we were getting Coyla's hair and make-up prepped, he found a raspberry bush, and decided to see if he likes the berries... he bit a single berry, and pulled it off the bush delicately before he spat it out deciding berries aren't for him. He had some of our chicken for lunch and only ate little cheese cubes as treats throughout the day!

Ian was so wonderful pulling the props together for the shoot, so a major thanks to him for that! Also a thanks to him for scouting out all the locations for our shoot, and finding the perfect forest!

Coyla let us cover her in fake blood, and braved all the icky mosquitoes that were attacking her throughout the shoot! She had some red spots all over her shoulders after the shoot, which I hope passed by now!

The woods sure do look creepy don't they?

Clearly all sorts of wild creatures roam these woods! ;)

Whether she's a warrior princess with a wild wolf partner, or a mystical mage who soothes and charms wild creatures - Coyla could portray her characters beautifully.

So thank you all for having made this a wonderful day! xxx

A Breath in Time

These photos are from a shoot I did a while back with the beautiful Jodi Lakin, the wonderful Rhiannon Chalmers and the amazing Ian Mears! Rhiannon was such a savior stepping in late, and did a beautiful job, and Ian was a ton of fun (as usual!) so we had an very relaxing, very creative day. 

 Jodi here looks absolutely beautiful (at least thats my opinion!) as though she's lost in her own dream land. I could just write a story about the character she's portraying here. Thank you Jodi for being such an inspiration!

I'm not sure why, but these shots always make me think of Paris, nostalgically! Does anyone else get the same sort of feeling? 

The mystery lady turns... (lame i know - but you thought it too!)

I love the hat - found it in a shop last summer while walking through Toledo in Spain. It made my day!

Bubbles always make everyone smile! 

Hope you guys enjoyed the shots! let me know what you think. 

I'll be posting more photos from shoots i did back in Cyprus, and from the Olympics later this week!

Lakes and lost worlds

Hey all! These are some shots from a shoot Ian Mears and I did a two weeks ago :) 

Coyla MacPherson was such a great model! We literally put her through so much. She climbed up ladders and walls that were falling apart, walked on ledges that, to be fair, would be considered terrifying to say the least, and even got into a lake! All this in the freezing cold (I was personally wearing 4 layers) and in the rain - apparently the rain was colder than the lake was!

This was one of our last shots in the day, and all I could say when she got out of the lake was thank you. 

This ledge was a lot scarier than it seems! But Coyla stood on there bravely, with her gorgeous wedding dress flying in the wind.

When she stood on here, I actually got a bit worried that the wind would blow her down!

You can see a bit more of the location in this one - it was a gorgeous place! Thank you Ian for taking us there!

the suicidal bride-to-be!

We were worried she would slip on the rail while climbing back and fall into the waters below (which were actually quite deep!) but we were both ready to capture that moment should it happen! Sadly - i mean luckily! - it didn't.

 This shot was really fun to get: she climbed down onto the pipe from the ledge above. It was the getting back that would be troublesome: we both had to pull her back up over the ledge, hoping she wouldn't scrape her knees too badly. Afterall we didn't want to be too mean and leave her stranded in the cold! 

  

We all got soaked to the bone from shooting by the lake, so we tried to rush the long walk back to the car by daydreaming about traveling to a warm country!

 This one is possibly my favorite from the day, though the rest come pretty close! 

Thank you all for checking these out! Let me know what you think, and go over to Facebook and like my photography page too! Hope you're having a great day :)

Inspiration and Experience: Miss Aniela

So this blog post is about the Miss Aniela Fashion Shoot Experience I was part of way back in February. It was amazing as always. The Roost is such a beautiful location, and Natalie and Matt did a brilliant job organizing the event! The models were outstanding too, as was the styling, hair and make-up! It was the second shoot experience by Miss Aniela that I was fortunate enough to be a part of, and arrived with really high expectations. I was far from disappointed.


These are some my favorite photos from the day:

 

Model: Alison McGowen


Styling: Pash, stylecreative

Outfil: Alyssa Lichtenstein 

Hair: Tati Zarubova 

MUA: Safiya Laviniere 


Model: Katy Heffernan-Smith 

Styling: Pash, stylecreative  

Outfit: Alyssa Lichtenstein 

Hair: Tati Zarubova 

MUA: Safiya Laviniere 

Model: Katie Johnson

Styling: Pash, stylecreative 

Outfit: Queen of the Wild 

Hair: Kaylee Yasmin

MUA: Grace Gray

 

Model: Scarlet Song 

Styling: Pash, stylecreative

Outfit: Alyssa Lichtenstein 

Hair: Kaylee Yasmin 


MUA: Grace Gray 

And this was by far the funkiest to shoot! The assistants were amazing. They helped “fluffy-fy” the dress, by using reflectors as wind machines!

I also had Andy help along here, by throwing the feathers in the cage and pulling his hand out instantly. I wanted to make the bird look like it was exploding – sort of like the scene from Shrek where Fiona sings and a bird blows up! (I saw the musical the night before so had Shrek on my mind!) He was such a star!

And I had Torsten Kieslich as my partner in crime for the day, who was a brilliant source of inspiration!

We finished off the day with the beautiful Scarlet, and were all completely exhausted by this time. Andy had suggested Scarlet should stand by the bar, and after a bit of creative bickering back and forth between Andy and me, poor Scarlet ended up with a broom in her hands, sweeping away… on the bar!

If anyone who’s reading this has considered being part of one of these shoot experiences at some point I would highly recommend going for it! It’s hands down worth every penny and more! You meet a group of inspiring, interesting, creative and caring people from all over the world who chose to come together on this day to further their own photographic work, and just to share the experience. After each of the two sessions I actually felt like I reached a new level with my own work. It’s an amazing feeling, so if you’re even feeling borderline about your work and don’t know how to make it better or you’re feeling a bit down in the dumps, try to attend one of these days – your creativity will definitely get revived!

To learn more about these Shoot Experiences click here

To see more of Miss Aniela’s work check out her website.

ALSO!!! I finally got my Facebook page up this morning! so if you haven't already, pop on over and click like! :) <3 <3

Long Overdue

Wow so this is long overdue. I’ve wanted to start a blog for a very long time, but you all know how procrastination works. I wanted a platform to share photos from my recent shoots, my thoughts about different things related to photography and life! I’ll even include some of my own personal writing from time to time.

I’ve been really backlogged on editing this year, so expect quite a few posts over the next few days. I’m finally working through these shoots! 

The first one I want to share with you all took place on the 7^th of April, 2012. Andy (aka Photocillin), Sharon Cooper (aka Sosij) and I got together to shoot at an amazing location with two absolutely gorgeous girls! Maria Hastings was also wonderful enough to come along and do the make up for the day! Tor Callis, and Miss Bruise Violet modeled for the day, and suffered through all sorts! They climbed up walls that were half falling apart, spun around in circles and pretended to be whispering princesses! ;)  

This is hands down my favorite shot of the day:

But the rest come pretty close!

St. Dunstans in the East was such an breathtaking location its so hard to believe that this place is in the heart of London! We walked in, and I thought we walked into a fairytale!

Tor looked so happy when we started blowing bubbles at her!  

Thanks for reading! Expect more soon!

Selene - Alexia