Gena approached me via a
purpleport www.purpleport.com
and expressed an interest in organising a shoot. Pre-shoot communications were
excellent, and quickly established direction(s) she was looking to take her
modelling.
She’d seen some recent shoots
with Krystal and wanted to create something along similar lines. She had some
locations in mind, including an abandoned police station. Despite genuine
potential, further research and closer scrutiny demanded a rethink.
We eventually settled on
Southend on Sea and combining beach, with more urban/alternative themes. Time,
location and structure agreed, my second-shooter (Spare camera body for
location work) decided to expire, without any warning. This was while doing
some fetish themed work.
An expensive weekend, given my
car had succumbed to a grumbling CV joint. One which had also formed a
seemingly permanent union with the driveshaft. Meanting that too, needed
replacing.
On Sunday, I switched to my
CSC and 30mm prime lens. Great for street photography but not my first choice
for photoshoots. Though attitudes are changing, models tend to be sceptical and
perceive them as inferior to SLRs. Models, regardless of experience need to
feel confident in a photographer’s abilities.
I was familiar with the area
and had taken a drive down during the August bank holiday. Primarily to do some
street photography, with a quick bit of location scouting for good measure.
Having met up, we weaved
through the side streets, where it was theoretically quieter and warmed up with
some headshots/portraits. In common with many town centres, street homelessness
is widespread and very apparent.
Affording people dignity and
respect goes a long way to averting potentially awkward/dangerous situations.
However, hunger, substance misuse and poor mental health can prove a
volatile mix.
We attracted the attentions of
passers-by but most people were extremely considerate. Nonetheless, although
all publicity is good…We didn’t want an audience and after twenty minutes,
headed to the beach.
With the tide long gone and
unlikely to return for seven hours, we were forced to abandon our concept of
her emerging from the water. Holiday season done, we made good use of an
essentially empty beach. Gena stands 5’2 and I often shoot shorter models,
while lying down, which suggests they are much taller.
Ninety minutes in, reserves
were flagging, which is not great for creativity. So, we found a suitably clean
café’. Conversation flowed easily as we refuelled, relaxed and reviewed the .
Bill settled, we headed out to
Westcliff-roughly a mile away, stopping at various points to shoot. This
beautifully restored VW fired our imaginations, particularly Gena’s (She’d studied
car mechanics).
Wanting to avoid introspection
and potential confrontation, we sauntered along the side streets and to some
distressed warehouse doors. The dilapidated remains of a car dealership were
our last backdrop of the day but won’t be our last collaboration...
