A week ago I received a message from Chris (Specular) about 10pm; asking if I could make it into London the next morning. Twelve hours later I was in Covent Garden at Charles H Fox makeup store, assisting on my first commercial shoot! Kryolan (a massive professional makeup company) had commissioned Chris to shoot their 2013 trendlook, showing off the new colours in their range.
It was by far the biggest operation I've worked on. Charlotte Girdwood was our model for the day, Chris was photographing, I was assisting, Lan Nguyen applied the makeup, Joey Bevan and his assistant were styling, with a hairstylist and videographer too, all observed by the store's manager and Kryolan's director who had flown in from Germany. Even breakfast was laid out; I can get used to these kind of shoots!
The makeup studio was insane, and I know plenty of women who would kill to have been in my shoes. Makeup of all colours, glitters, pastels (apparently they're in?) took up the entire centre table. While waiting for Charlotte's hair to dye, Chris and I set up the impromptu studio and lights. Eventually after Charlotte's hair was styled, nails painted and makeup applied (all at once), we had our first look and was ready to be photographed. Twenty minutes later, she was back in the chair getting makeup for look two.
Chris was so right about photo-shoots like this. Guy models take minutes to change a look; girls can take a little while longer. That said, the transformations are incredible. Charlotte was fantastically professional, and the poses and facial expressions she held were remarkable. I swear at one second she was laughing, and I looked back after 2 more to see her posed ready for another photo. Chris was awesome, applying amazing lighting set ups to each look and even utilising a building cement bag to great artistic effect!
I had to leave early, albeit 9 hours after I got there, but the last image I saw Chris capture was phenomenal. The original file would have made my portfolio. The three looks we captured were so diverse, using such vibrant colours, that I know the finished shots will look brilliant. It'll be great to say I helped capture that! Cheers again for inviting me down Chris! I'm definitely moving to London after my masters...
It was so difficult picking which photos, from the 300 I took behind the scenes, to show on here. I obviously can't show any new colours, or 'final image' style shots until the trendlook is released. I'll be sure to let you know when that happens!
