Bless

CLICK HERE for the full shoot!

To see the video, CLICK HERE.

Model: Bala Piti

It had been a while since me and model Bala had done a shoot (see here), so we decided to throw something together. I took me a while to find inspiration for something new, but I then remembered some church shots I'd seen of Charlotte Abramow's years ago. I think they've been taken down since, but it prompted the memory that, since seeing those images, I'd always wanted to do a photoshoot in a church.

I packed a bunch of props before leaving the house (skull candle, veil, dagger-style letter opener, snake bangle, illustrative book on astrology) and left to meet the model at the location.

I have to say, it was definitely the quietest shoot I've ever done. Obviously, the venue called for quiet reflection, and we respected this and the people walking round. But because of this, we ended up whispering and having to make signals and gestures to one another 

There were some points where I wanted poses that were of a more religious value - for example, I took the veil and whispered for the model to wear it like the madonna. As we were being very careful not to cause offense (I myself am agnostic, but my grandfather was a bishop, so I have a great respect for the church and those who follow it) the model very carefully moved the veil around, pulling it completely over her head, then winding it around, then pulling it back, etc. Through these slight gestures, she ended up briefly moving in to the madonna pose, and I quickly took the shot before she moved on. 

See below, the mood-board created for the shoot. 

I believe the far right and far left images are Abramow's.