After a long hiatus, I have been persuaded to return to Model Mayhem and overhaul my profile. I have gutted my old gallery and replaced it with my latest work. Let's see what interesting characters I encounter!
Fashion
Monday, 14 June 2010
Wednesday, 02 June 2010
Viktoria Modesta at 229 Venue
The first thing that strikes you about "singer/songwriter iconic model/muse & creative designer" Viktoria Modesta is the air of inevitability.
At the age of 23, the Latvian model has graced the covers of Bizarre and SkinTwo, featured in numerous advertising campaigns, and overcome personal challenges that would test even the strongest wills. She has been crowned winner of the Channel4 Evo Music Rooms, and has now completed her first album. Many recognise her as a cult figure, proof that one can challenge conventional notions of beauty and actually succeed.
It is perhaps difficult to separate the girl from the exquisitely styled persona that appears on stage and in fashion magazines. One cannot help but sense that something larger is at work behind the scenes, an informal network of musicians, image makers, opinion formers and connectors. Viktoria may well be the lightning rod that channels all their talents.
To blow up across a million screens requires the creation of something larger than any individual human being. At this scale, the idea takes front stage. Ideas, after all, are not bound by skin and bone. Is that really Stephanie Germanotta on YouTube, or is it Lady Gaga and her quixotic brand of fashion? Whether it be the music production, the costume design, the filming or the marketing, the combined result is the work of dozens if not hundreds of people. It takes rare talent to line them all up and march them in the same direction.
Which brings us back to Viktoria Modesta. All the elements are there: The image, the brand, the people, the music... It's as though we are caught in a slow-motion film, waiting for gravity to act and let the dominoes fall.
That much, at least, seems inevitable.
Friday, 16 April 2010
Behind the Scenes at Browns
Following the introduction of the Future Collectables range - a collection of designer clothes especially commissioned by Browns to mark their 40th birthday - here is a behind the scenes video of the photo shoot. Yes, you get to see me and the team hard at work!
Video shot by Stacey Hatfield for Browns.
Browns Future Collectibles on Vogue.com
My recent job for Browns and their 40th birthday has just landed on the front page of Vogue.com!
Great work team!
Browns 40th Birthday
Swimsuit by Norma Kamali.
Model: Georgina Toms @ Elite Model London
Photographer: A R Harvey
Stylist: Simone La Rose
Makeup: Kate Johns
Hair: CJ for Joseph Koniak
Stylist Assistant: Victoria Jowett
Behind the scenes photography and filming: Stacey Hatfield
Browns are celebrating their 40th birthday, and to mark the occasion recently invited a number of high profile fashion designers to contribute exclusive designs. Vogue.com have already picked up on this event and splashed one of our photos across their front page!
Our small team photographed about twenty-four looks over two days. The brief was classic, elegant simplicity, and did not call for anything more than a very minimal studio setup. At one end of the room was a skin-shaded background; in front of it, two strobes.
I needed beautifully soft illumination and a single, pleasing shadow - the key light therefore had to cover the model from head to toe. After experimenting with a rather harsh beauty dish I opted for a one-meter wide umbrella. Not only did it bathe the model in a gloriously smooth light, it also did a marvellous job of illuminating the background. My fill light was nothing more than a medium sized softbox. It's not the number of lights that's important, but the quality of light and it's location.
Dress by Roksanda Ilincic.
Dress by Hussein Chalayan.
Blouse by Dries Van Noten.
T-Shirt by Maison Martin Margiela.
Dress by Acne.
Dress by David Koma.
Dress by Missoni.
Dress by Missoni.
Jacket by Rick Owens.
Jacket by Philip Lim.
Monday, 05 April 2010
Afro Chic
Models: Sicily Gianni, Rose Concencion
Photography: A R Harvey
Stylist: Simone La Rose
Makeup: Kate Johns
Hair: Andreas H
Stylist Assistant: Victoria Jowett
Designs by David Koma, Nathan Jenden, Hermione de Paula and Holly Fulton.
Photographed at HZV Studios, London, for Idol Magazine.
Thank you everyone for your hard work!
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Gabby Young and Other Animals
http://www.gabbyyoungandotheranimals.com/
http://www.myspace.com/gabbyyoung
Imagine you are thirteen years old again. Summer holidays still last forever, the burden of unfinished homework shades Sunday evenings... Grown ups keep on telling you these are the happiest days of your life, yet your mind is trapped in the dull grind of school and the bus journey home.
One blue skied morning the phone rings. The school has been shut. Suddenly, a whole day of adventure extends before you. The world seems different: Sun strikes the buildings at unfamiliar angles, people flow differently in the street outside. You should be stuck in the classroom, yet instead you are now standing on the doorstep, privy to another world - the world that has always existed outside the school gates on a weekday.
If this is a matinee film, then Gabby Young and her band are the colourful characters sent to rescue you. You can hear them gently tapping on your bedroom window, beckoning you to join them. A dusty flat bed truck is parked just round the corner, stacked with trumpets, guitars, mandolins and countless other wonderful instruments... Minutes later, your parents discover a curiously empty bedroom and an open window. Nearby, a pair of curtains waft gently in the breeze...
Countless miles away, the road runs long and unfamiliar. The soil is dust, the sky warm. Songs with resplendent, towering choruses rise above the din of the engine: "Horatio" dramatizes the story of a doomed man to epic proportions, and "Whose House" sounds like an entire township joining forces to exorcise a haunted home.
The afternoon is waning, but there is one last stop. "We are all off to the zoo!" announces the band. Only this a zoo unlike any other. You hand the attendant your ticket and step through the turnstile... An orchestra of animals greet you. Foxes paw their accordions, bears blow their clarinets. Pandas, lions and other creatures join the parade. The entire zoo is alive with the sound of folk and jazz.
Inevitably it comes time to leave and head on home. The light on the horizon has narrowed like a sleepy eye lid. You wave goodbye to the animals and slump into the back of the truck. "We Are All in This Together" a voice laments. The strings of a guitar sound delicately nearby. The adventure is over.
You return just in time for the nine o'clock news and supper. Once again you pack your school bag, and attempt to ignore the underlying dread of handing in half-finished homework. The room is now a little cold, so you shut the window.
The ticket stub from the zoo is still in your back pocket. You fish it out, pause, and place the scuffed remains beneath your pillow... hoping it will still be there come morning.
Featured in these pictures:
The garment and headpiece are from the Salon Gabrielle collection, designed especially for Gabby Young by the Miss Kiki Salon Presents artists collective. © Sofia Kalaitzidi, Kundalini Arts and Robert Burton. The headpiece was produced by Ugly Lovely.
Stage design and illuminated necklace by Jeffrey Michael.
Live lighting design and programming by Marie Sanders.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
The Rob Moore Fan Club
Every now and then I check my web logs to find out where my visitors are arriving from. The other day I followed the breadcrumbs back to a Japanese blog called MensModelsTalk. To my astonishment they had copied all my images from the Rogers Benham menswear shoot and reposted them!
I asked my wonderful Japanese housemate Mariko to translate the annotation:
"I love the situation of the photo and I feel like I will go into a dream world. Sitting on the sofa with the Union Jack cushion, Rob Moore looks like a true English gentleman. I want to just go into the photo, sit next to him!! I bet I am not the only one who feels that way lol"
Awww!
Rob Moore is the handsome chap pictured above, and represented by Select Model. He has a whole section on MensModelTalk devoted just to him.
Needless to say, I am rather flattered - if somewhat surprised - to find my photos living another life on a faraway website... Of course I post them here knowing full well they can be easily copied and repurposed. As computer security guru Bruce Schneier once famously wrote:
"Digital files cannot be made uncopyable, any more than water can be made not wet."
House of Idol
Models: Roksana @ Confidence Models, Bria, Dena, and Elwira.
Photographer: A R Harvey
Stylist: Simone La Rose
Makeup: Jairo Dual
Hair: Magdalena Tucholska
Location courtesy of Browns, South Molton St, London and Simone La Rose.
Dirt needn't always be unattractive. A bit of grime can infer authenticity and lend a little scruff for the audience to grip.
The shoot was a branding exercise for Idol magazine. I wanted something raw and organic - like a tired old pair of shoes, tossed in the corner after a heavy night out. Spilt lager, vomit, broken glass... the detritus of a good time.
Often we desire the things that elude us most. Many crave acceptance, a sense of belonging. Others hunger for security. The girls are seen to protect each other and jealously guard their clique. We as mere gate crashers can do little more than look on and veil our envy.
This was never the party, only the hangover.
