8 November 2016
We were delighted to be invited to join in a recent photoshoot with emerging talent from Plymouth College of Art’s photography course. The students had been set the task of taking the brief for, and then running, a commercial photo shoot based around a selection of different products. Most of the photographs on our website are taken within 5 minutes’ trotting distance of our workshop in Chulmleigh and we don’t have access to studio backdrops or lighting, so it was exciting to pack up a selection of bags and send them off to the city with course tutor Gem Pope (an amazing photographer in her own right – you should see her degree show portfolio).
As anyone who has flicked through a glossy fashion mag will realise, a fashion story image should be so much more than a ‘nice’ picture – it needs to reach out to its target audience and to affect them in some way (in our case they should be left thinking ‘I love that aspirational handbag and I am powerless to resist’). Part of the process therefore, involved writing a brief for the students – putting into words what we wanted to see in the pictures.
When faced with what is effectively a blank canvas and an oyster’s worth of choice it takes a bit of thought – we decided that we would like a clean urban look (given that most of our local locations are muddy and rural).
It was also a great opportunity to allow the students to come up with their own ideas, including choosing models, outfits and backdrops, allowing them to practice all aspects of a commercial shoot.
The result was a very professionial, quirky selection of studio images – thanks so much guys – hope it was great fun!
…and in another studio across the corridor some of Susan’s hats were being shot too – we LOVE the lighting on these – amazing!
