S i r e n o f t h e S e a
P a r t I & I I
After a long (and unintentional) break from photography, focusing my free time on illustration instead, I recently decided I wanted to get back into it. My real passion is creative fashion/beauty photography, which I haven't had the opportunity to do since I moved to the South West. Deciding this year I needed to change that, I joined a local model, MUA and photographer group and reached out, to see if anyone would be interested in working with me. I was overwhelmed with the positive response, inundated with messages from creatives all over the county (and across the border) interested in collaborating.
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| Moodboard for first look, credits: Unknown, Donny Zavala, James Meakin, Julie Paisley, Bruno Aveillan, Aleksandra, mlepictures, Unknown, Irene Rudnyk |
I immediately got to planning and booking in shoots, curating moodboards and scouting locations and sourcing clothing and accessories. My love for fantasy and fairy tales is a huge inspiration in all my artwork, but especially in my photography, which means I like to go all out on the styling.
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| Moodboard for second look, credits: Rosie Hardy, Wild and Free Jewelry, Monica Lazar, Matthew Ree, Easton Chang, Bella Kotak, Unknown |
My first shoot was with the wonderful model,
Nicola, and amazing make up artist,
Najat. We set a date for the shoot (which felt forever away at the time) and finalised the looks, location and timing. As the date approached, Storm Ciara came creeping towards us. After an agonising few days of watching the forecast, we agreed to move the shoot forward to the morning as the storm wasn't due to hit until mid to late afternoon. Luckily, we finished shooting with maybe an hour at most to spare before the storm hit the coast and swept across the mainland.
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| Fistral beach on the morning of the shoot |
We met in the car park of Fistral beach, and Najat did Nicola's make up out of the boot of her car, battling the winds, sand and cold. Nicola then did a quick costume change on the beach and we started shooting.
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| Najat working her magic out of the boot of Nicola’s car |
We were so fortunate with the weather that morning, it was beautifully clear and sunny, the epitome of 'calm before the storm'. However, the wind speed was excessive, making the chilly winter air bitingly cold. Nicola, made of stronger stuff than anyone I've ever known, went into the freezing ocean with no hesitation.
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| Siren of the Sea I |
We had two looks in mind for the shoot, the first something soft and almost ethereal. I had sourced a pastel pink chiffon cape, which was the ‘statement’ piece for the look, then found a long white layered dress with silver detailing to style it with. The two pieces worked well together but needed a little something extra. I also felt I needed to tie it in with the second look we would be shooting, which would be much darker and almost gothic in style. When I found a dark crystal crown, I knew I’d found the perfect piece to tie it all together. Due to the freezing temperatures, I suggested the model wear some kind of layers underneath, black seeming the best option for preserving heat. Nicola was wearing a delicate lace bralette and leggings, both in black. I had figured I could always hide it/change the colour in post afterwards if it didn’t work with the styling but seeing the outfit all together it added an extra twist.
Siren of the Sea I
For all the hours we’d spent planning, we shot for maybe 30-45 minutes maximum, me trying to be as quick and efficient as possible on shots to minimise the intense cold and taking regular breaks for Nicola to warm up in a big coat (looked after by the lovely Najat) whilst I switched lenses and quickly reviewed shots.
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| Siren of the Sea I |
When we finished shooting, we immediately headed back to the car to warm up. Najat kindly brought delicious snacks for us to enjoy and I went in search of much needed hot teas and coffee. Once we were warmed up, Najat began the second make up look. The sky began to darken, the waves getting higher and rougher and we knew the storm was imminent. We rushed back onto the beach, Nicola doing a quick change into the second set of clothing to shoot and once again going right into the water. I got caught in a few rogue waves, just below pocket level so my phone and lenses were thankfully unscathed. It acted as good motivation to get the shots as quickly as possible. It was also at this point I realised Nicola had a tattoo on her left arm of a siren! It couldn’t have been more perfect for the shoot, so I had to get some shots featuring her beautiful ink.
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| Siren of the Sea II |
We climbed the rocks on the beach to get a few more shots, and I learned wellies are not an ideal climbing shoe (but great for beaches otherwise). These turned out to be some of my favourite shots of the day, the shape, texture and colouring of the rocks really adding to the dark and moody feel. Once safely back onto the beach, Najat having kept an eye on the incoming tide to make sure we didn’t get cut off, we wrapped and headed for the car.
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| Siren of the Sea II |
No more than an hour after we finished, the storm arrived. By which point, I was safely back home in my pjs with a hot cup of tea, safely wrapped in a blanket with my laptop and furry assistant. Transferring the images onto my laptop was a nerve-wracking time, it was my first creative shoot in years and I felt the pressure to deliver. Shots always look different from camera screen to computer, and after the incredible efforts from the creative team to make this shoot happen I was dreading letting them down.
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| My furry assistant, Casper |
To my relief, the shots were better than I hoped - a rare experience for a perfectionist - and I immediately began whittling them down to edit. I import everything via Lightroom and use the filtering system to select the final images. For the first set I kept the editing minimal, some minor tweaks to the lighting and the colours for that soft pastel look and enhancing the effect from the crystal I used to give the reflected/flared light on some of the shots. The majority of this editing I do in Lightroom, using a combination of presets to give a consistent 'look' and then manually adjusting the settings as needed. When I'm happy with the overall look in terms of lighting and colour correction, I switch to Photoshop and it's here I do more creative editing and specific tweaks using layer adjustments, masks and clipping paths. It's also the opportunity for introducing overlays, more extensive healing/cloning (e.g. dog walkers in the back of the shot!) and splicing images together.
Siren of the Sea I
For the second look, I pushed the editing a little more. I started with simple adjustments to the lighting to increase the intensity of the shadows, especially in the clouds, and enhance the moodiness. I liked the shots as they were at that point but felt I could elevate them further with some finishing touches. Inspired by a comment from Nicola on the shoot, I added a flock of birds overhead in one shot.
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| Siren of the Sea II |
In most of these shots I added more layers of swirling fabric, filling more of the frame and adding to the drama of the shot. Some of the additional fabric was taken from other shots, spliced together, some were using royalty free stock overlays of fabrics I found online. For the final few on the rocks, I added some crashing water in the background - taken from when I’d shot the ocean during a storm months before and royalty free stock - to really push the drama.
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| Siren of the Sea II |
I absolutely loved working with this creative team and my excitement about shooting (already exceptionally high) increased tenfold afterwards and is rising ever still. I have been planning shoots right into the summer and can’t wait to share the results with you!
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Siren of the Sea II
Full set of images on my portfolio
C r e d i t s
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Siren of the Sea I
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