I Love Crafty Photo Shoot 2

Here is the second lot of shots from the I Love Crafty shoot to sport her new jewellery range, entitled 'Curiouser And Curiouser'. Like the jewellery? Check out the website for purchase! 

More Cuteness

Yeah, I believe the word your looking for is 'Awwwwwww'. 

They may look adorable now, but as soon as its dinner time, they become little vicious monsters. Still haven't worked out what gender they are yet, but by the way they attack each other over their food, I'm willing to bet anything that their all boys. Meal times usually end with one kitten sprawled out on a plate of fish, hogging the food and getting its belly all wet whilst the others try to eat around it at the same time as tackling each other off. Growling, scratching, pushing, spitting, biting... But its impossible to be strict with five balls of adorable fluff.

I Love Crafty Photo Shoot

Alrighty, here are the first shots (The prototypes) from the photo shoot for I Love Crafty. I used the model from the The Dark Shoot and used my grandparent's house and garden as the setting of the shoot, also used in Summer Garden. The shoot was styled by myself and Laura, the owner of the online store. The day was horrendously fun, rooting through vintage clothes boxes that I hadn't unearthed before including boxes of (victorian I think) gloves. The model is wearing a pair of these in the first shot, and it has to be noted that she had trouble moving her fingers but the shot turned out beautifully!

All jewellery in the shots are courteous of the I Love Crafty store. If you would like to purchase any of the jewellery, you can find it on the I Love Crafty website, that and many more including cute cake necklaces, bird earrings, tiny barbie shoe earrings and teacup rings!

Oh, and just in case you were wondering - there will be more of these coming!

Did Someone Say Kittens?

Is your life bereft of cuteness? Are you feeling a little down today? Need a pick-me-up? Then this is the post for you! (I was actually considering naming this post 'Awwwwwww' but I figured probably not)

Yes, that’s right! My once pregnant cat from the 'Snapshots & Update' post has had her kittens! It was her first time giving birth but she did it magnificently, producing five healthy kittens and no stillborns. I have to admit; I had to 'midwife' most of them.  When the first kitten came out, she was so focused on it and didn't expect anymore to come out (boy was she wrong!) that she completely forgot about the second one.

I named the kittens spontaneously as soon as they came out - so don't judge me on the names I gave them. Their names are: Stevie (My personal favorite. Named after Stevie Wonder as his head was bobbing about vigorously as he came out), Zipper (The name says it all. He sounds like a zip being done up when he meows), Moo (Coloring), Gwin (Named after Dustfinger's pet from Inkheart - the book.) and Coco (After Coco Chanel No. 5 as he was the fifth one out).

I’ve only got a couple of weeks left with the little darlings and then they go off to their new homes. I hate having to let them go but I know they’ll be going to good homes.

P.S - I dare you to look at the first picture and not melt.

Born To Run

I was recently involved in a play called 'Born To Run' and during the rehearsals took many pictures of the production. I particularly enjoyed this one scene with two teenagers on a scooter and ended up taking more than a few shots of it. Here are just a couple of those shots.

In other news: Photo shoot for the wonderful I Love Crafty coming up very soon so watch out for that!

James Dean Inspired Shoot

This is a shoot inspired by 1950s Hollywood icon, James Dean. I only discovered Dean a couple of weeks ago when my granddad sent over a dvd of 'Rebel Without A Cause' for me to watch. It is now one of my favourite movies, next to the other Dean classic, 'East Of Eden'. When searching for the right model, I was quite surprised at the amount of people from my generation who had not heard of the movie star so if you are one of these people, here is a short summary:

 James Dean embodied the phrase 'live fast, die young'. At the age of 24, he died in a racing car accident. He only ever made three movies before his death: 'Rebel Without A Cause', 'East Of Eden' and 'Giant'. As I've heard it, he was always very anxious about his performances, rigorously perfecting each detail of the character he portrayed until he was satisfied with the result. As directors have said, Dean was very difficult to deal with on set as he had very definite ideas of the character or storyline he was portraying. These often      differed from the directors own ideas resulting in frequent clashes. 'Rebel Without A Cause' began a genre of movie dealing with teenage angst and the misunderstandings between parent and teenager. The movie created such an impression that after its release, young people identified with the character Dean played. Everyone wanted his look. They wanted to smoke, to hold 'chickie runs' and to comb their hair back in the classic 'pompadour' style. Young people were rebelling against traditional values and looked to James Dean as their icon.

Initially for this shoot,  I wanted to attain the James Dean on-stage 'Rebel' look, but in the end decided to go for the laid-back off-stage 'glasses with jumper' style instead. I then researched various James Dean images to find the right feel on which to base the shoot - these are featured at the end of the post. 

On the day of the shoot, it was half an hour before the model and assistant arrived, the weather was looking fine - and then it happened. Rain. A photographer's worst nightmare. So when we went out, not only was I trying unsuccessfully to keep the lens and model dry, but also trying  to keep the big light-reflector upright in the gale that was battering us about.

The model in this was also used for the 'Burberry Inspired' post. The assistant was the female model from the 'At Court' post.

If you are a James Dean fan, I would really recommend watching this TV short called 'The Dark, Dark Hours' with Dean performing with Ronald Reagan. Its a very rare piece of footage as it hasn't been seen for 50 years since it was originally aired. 

The Dark, Dark Hours Link

Snapshots & Update

Hello there! Sorry I've been taking so long but I am still here, I've just been getting over various colds - Yippee!

Happy New Year by the way - I know its a tad late. I hope you all had a great holiday.

So, I went out for a walk today to do a scout for my next photo shoot (Yes, theres another one coming, hold your horses!) and would you believe it, it was actually sunny! I mean, it was actually a nice day. That is something that us british folk are not acquainted with. Anyway, here are  a couple of snapshots just to keep you all happy whilst waiting for the next shoot.

Just so you all know, I've got several photo shoots coming up:

I will be doing a shoot next week - This one will be fairly under wraps until I get everything sorted.

I am currently collaborating on a photo shoot with Laura Hunter, owner of the beautiful (now online) shop, 'I Love Crafty'. She makes the most wonderful jewellery and accessories which are great for presents and also a sneaky treat for yourself.

Also, I've just been commissioned to do a shoot with a new band called 'Coy Mistress'. Fabulous music, definitely recommend hearing them out.

Lots of stuff coming up so watch this space!