Lola by the Sea

Little needs to be said about this beautiful woman that many don’t already know.  Her abundant curls, big blue eyes and naturally slim figure make her the dream doll for any stylist to dress.  The spontaneous shoot came about one Sunday morning when Gillian Chambers, Lorien Bolus (Lola) and I were all in the mood to make beautiful pictures.

The first shot of the day involved Lorien jumping into an empty tub wearing a wooly wardrobe.  The poor girl was freezing, but you’d never know, she looks cuddly and delighted – good model!  White matched her cool skin tone beautifully and helped enhance the highlights in her eyes and hair.

We decided to keep Lorien’s makeup to a minimum for the second shot, enhancing her natural beauty with a more colourful wardrobe.  The Lilac Chiffon blazer enhanced the rose in her cheeks and lips and the Spring Bouquet necklace I’d found at a flea market not too long ago almost mirrored her big eyes.

This is my favourite shot of the day and was one of the last few looks.  I’d had this feather boa for months and was dying to attach it to some poor models head.  Lorien was my victim for the day and it worked perfectly.   The subtle black-on-black design in the Maya Prass coat worked beautifully with all the textures created by the feathers, rake and shadows.  Black added great contrast to Lorien’s tone, exaggerating her features.


For more images and info on the shoot, read Gillian’s post on GillianDoes and don’t forget to follow Lorien and Gillian on Twitter!

Sugar Solid Styling - Eckart Wessels

On the 8^th of May, Eckart Wessels, Gillian Chambers and I decided to make magic.  Eckart is a 20 year old model from Richards Bay who’s decided to use his looks to make enough money to travel the world.  Modelling wasn’t his dream job but he’s using it to make his real dream come true, I think that’s a great idea.

He approached Gillian and me a few weeks ago and both of us jumped at the chance to showcase his gorgeous ginger hair (I have a thing for ginger hair).  As a newish model, he worked beautifully, smoothly transitioning into each new look or mood and we captured some great shots for his book.

 

Here are three of my favourites from the day’s work:

The important thing for Eckart's book was to get in a few sultry, fashion looks to illustrate his ability to showcase fashion items.  Dying ivy growing on a wall in Gillian's courtyard worked perfectly with his warm colouring.  The dying leaves had gone orange, perfect for his hair, while the surviving few emphasised the green in his eyes.  The final look came out very Ralph Lauren with an "American boy next door" feel.

I wanted to show a manlier side to Eckart's look by channeling Grant Wood's American Gothic.  I've always been a fan of the painting for many reasons (from growing up on a farm to watching too much Courage The Cowardly Dog) and thought we could modernise (modelise?) it.  It's probably my favourite shot.

A little bit of eccentric exploring of Annie's Wardrobe produced the final look of the shoot.  This gorgeous shirt brought an ethereal feel to Eckart's look with the angelic light surrounding him perfectly.

You can find more images from this shoot on Gillian Does… and Eckart’s full portfolio here.