A R Harvey Blog

Daryl and Emily

One last photo from the Latimer Arachnid Jewellery shoot...

Models: Daryl McCarthy & Emily Garner
Creative Director & Stylist: Joey Bevan
Makeup: Paul Merchant
Hair: Kasia Fortuna
Jewellery: Latimer Couture

Once again, big thanks to everyone!

Latimer Arachnid Jewellery

Model: Emily Garner
Creative Director & Stylist: Joey Bevan
Makeup: Paul Merchant
Hair: Kasia Fortuna
Jewellery: Latimer Couture
Spiders: Scales and Fangs

Big thanks to everyone for your hard work - especially Emily, who was fearless in her modelling!

Beauty and the Electric City

Models: Emily Garner and Fran Turner

Photography: A R Harvey
Makeup: Michelle Court
Hair: Will Hunt
Styling: Joey Bevan

For this shoot I riffed on the idea of "glass" and how it can be used to bend light. I imagined the girls within an electric metropolis, awash with light and energy. The colourful field of bokeh behind the models is actually a practical effect; it was shot in-camera using nearly six-hundred glass beads. Reflections and light blurs were added later using nighttime scenes of London shot by myself.

Yesteryear this Year - L'Altro Uomo

Models: Marcel & Cesar @ Premier
Styling: Suzie Street & Nickque Patterson
Makeup: Marcio Abraao
Photo Assistants: Stacey Hatfield & Alexandra Watson

Shot last March in Little Venice, London, and published in L'Altro Uomo - a mens fashion, art and lifestyle book. Thank you everyone for your hard work!

The hardback book can be purchased online and from selected stores. A digital version is available too.

Makeover Timelapse

Makeup, Model and Concept by Victoria Penrose.
Film by A R Harvey.

Recently, myself and makeup artist Victoria Penrose decided to film a time-lapse video of her applying makeup to herself. The idea was to show the improvement that even a modest amount of makeup can produce. This was also an opportunity for me to try out a few new things.

The video was shot on a normal digital stills camera (my Canon 5DMkI) and lit entirely with studio flash. Using flash for stop-motion animation can be a rather risky affair; the light output may not be entirely consistent from frame to frame and an ugly flicker can appear on playback. Fortunately, my heavy-duty Bowens studio lights proved remarkably consistent. The images were bang-on solid. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed quite the same success with my cheaper Speedlites though...

Although Victoria did her best to maintain a consistent head position, a certain amount of movement was unavoidable. I smoothed this out two ways: First, I tracked the catch-lights in the eyes and stabilized the image based on their movement. Secondly I time-stretched the sequence and blended the extra frames.

In the above comparison, the finished result is on the left. The original, unstabilized version is on the right.

Joey Bevan for Ideal Home Show

Model: Sophie Howard
Stylist/Hair: Joey Bevan
Makeup: Michelle Court

The outfit featured in these photos was created by Joey Bevan for the Ideal Home Show. The materials are actually household furnishings; a plastic shower curtain has been repurposed as a see-through top, and foam door-pads have been turned into decorations.

Stylised lighting effects such as lens flares require a lot of care to get right. Their character varies immensely depending on the position of the light source and the aperture. Lens construction also plays a huge role: Complicated assemblies such as zoom lenses tend to produce more intricate patterns. The best lens flares are those that exhibit an almost organic quality, rife with flaws, happy accidents and serendipity.

Emilyne

A small, low-key shoot in the gallery above Beach Blanket Babylon, Shoreditch.

Thanks for all your hard work guys!

Model: Emilyne Mondo
Makeup and Hair: Oscar Alexander
Styling: Nickque Patterson

Clones

This shoot was to be featured in the fashion, photography & art magazine Labb.

The date of publication was meant to be the end of August, but slipped to September. After London Fashion Week I was told October. By the beginning of November the magazine had yet to appear. I sent a few emails and text messages - no response. I began to worry... Then half way through November I received confirmation of the news I had been dreading: Labb was no more. It had gone belly up. (The story is an intriguing one.)

The pictures shown here were photographed way back in sunny July. Since then a third of a year has passed. Outside my window there is now snow. Regrettably it is a little late to begin shopping the pictures around other magazines. I've been left with no other option but to post them here and draw a line under the whole affair.

I want to thank the team for all their hard work. I am very proud of what we achieved.

Model: Eve Clancy @ First
Model: David @ Oxygen 

Photographer: A R Harvey
Stylist: Jade Stavri
Makeup: Kaori Mitsuyasu
Hair: Soichi
Photo Assistant: Jenny Calvin
Stylist Assistant: Lauren Cardoe
Behind the scenes photography and filming: Emma Jane Richards 

Designers include: Rachel Freire (@ Bloody Gray), Millie Betiteo, Lina Osterman, Aminaka Wilmont, Lou Dalton, James Small, Kate Kuba, Daniel Spire, Culita, GMG, and 2 Weeks for Bitching and Junk Food.

Best of Britain for Bonafide Magazine

A playful fashion story for this month's Bonafide magazine.

Jade suggested we feature several well known British stereotypes: City, Sloane, Geek, Rude Boy and Essex. For some reason I pictured them as heroic characters, dramatically bathed in the fiery rays of a dying sun. Around that time I was also admiring Robyn's music video "The Girl and the Robot." I decided to try a similar juxtaposition. By cross-lighting with red and blue light, it was very easy to amplify both shape and depth. Indeed, one could argue that the resulting pictures would not look too out of place in a graphic novel.

Models: Deimante and Ben S @ Oxygen.

Photographer: A R Harvey
Stylist: Jade Stavri
Makeup: Kaori Mitsuyasu
Hair: Soichi

Thanks everyone for your hard work!

Charlie Le Mindu at London Fashion Week

Countless people have been talking about the now-infamous Charlie Le Mindu catwalk show which took place earlier this week. By sheer good fortune I was one of the few allowed in to take pictures... Here is a selection!