On 1st February I experienced my  first foray into a little bit of glamour photography.  Those of you who know me will be pleased to know that I was behind the camera!

This was through a workshop session arranged by a friend of mine Ashley who is an experienced Photographer.

The session was held at Twilight studios in Great Wakering.  This is  a quaint house, the owner Yasmine is always at hand nearby offering friendly banter and a welcome cup of coffee.

What is pleasant about the studio is that as it is based in her house, a number of rooms are available for shooting.  The house is blessed with offering plenty of ambient light, British weather permitting and she is more than welcome for you to bring your own lighting. This is particularly useful if you wish to bring your own equipment and backdrops.

Fortunately as I don’t have that luxury yet, Ashley was at hand with a single light setup complete with softbox to diffuse the light.

The group were comprised of six photographers all male bar one. One of the togs suggested an ‘eyes wide shut’ theme which was useful as it helped set the scene a little into considering the direction of shots to be taken.

Our model Frankie, was 5′ 7″ in height (before heels!) was slim, long brown hair and brown eyes, young and with curves and a strong enough personality to handle us and Ashley!

Thankfully, she has been modelling for a few years and although doesn’t usually do large group sessions, was a consummate professional who with a few laughs here or there, was able to help direct herself in posing for the less experienced of us, and able to follow clear directions for others.

I was most impressed with her ability to focus directly on whichever photographer was currently shooting, even when we had moved from using a remote triggered flash unit where we each took turns, to when, due to the amount of ambient life suddenly available to us, things became a free for all opportunity for shooting.

Our first ‘set’ was the ‘eyes wide shut’ theme.  This used a single rig and a small area in the lounge where the walls provided a natural backdrop befitting the theme.

The use of dark material and the combination of a purple detailed mask was a perfect combination to use against the backdrop.

This gave the opportunity to learn about balancing the light and considering the contrast of the materials and the position of light.

The majority of shots were cropped in or taken in the standard portraiture mode, but here I thought I would take full advantage of the chair, backdrop and the lamp to paint a relaxed picture, that still eluded an air of mystery.

Once we had exhausted our number of poses on this theme, and not wanting Frankie to collapse from heat exhaustion having stood in front of a 500watt light we then moved onto the other side of the lounge where a large bay window and sofa afforded us the opportunity to make use of natural light.

This did mean that I was more reliant on adjusting the ISO range and shutter range to attempt a nice medium and I felt subtle use of monochrome added to the above shot.

Finally as the day moved on, we moved upstairs to one of the bedrooms.  As the time was nearly 3pm, the sun was now directly behind us.

This gave the opportunity to try some bedroom shots.  Occasionally we employed the use of a light reflector to illuminate the model, but mostly natural light was available without the need to sacrifice on ISO rate.

For this shot a small reflector was held by Ashley to bounce the incoming light from the window.  I like this shot as Frankie is staring into the distance, who knows what she is thinking at this point, as it had by now been a fairly long day.

I particularly like this shot as it is a relaxed pose with a bit of blur of the background. Because it is a tight crop in, it is a subtle image that has managed to capture knowing eyes.

Finally my last shot of the day.  At this point we have a very relaxed Frankie, perhaps from exhaustion, but at least I was able to capture a bit of the cheeky smile she managed to supply during the days at points.  These were usually as a result of our picking on Ashley or ourselves, but nonetheless does show what a great personality she has.

So to sum it up, this was a good day, which I like to think was held by all, with a model who I hope to work with again sometime.