Growing

I just got back last night from a week away in the North East of England, working up in Edinburgh & Glasgow then to Newcastle & Darlington area for the rest of the time. It was quite tiring but very enjoyable, I met so many lovely, talented, inspiring people and worked in some gorgeous locations, will write about it more soon.

Off to London today to a salon test for some hair work I might be doing, then a job in Kensington this afternoon. I will catch up more with the blog later this week but until then I really want to showcase some of the work of a photographer I have worked with quite a bit over the past year - Tim Pile, based in Birmingham. He has been doing photography for a few years, but over the past 12 months or so, has really worked so hard on moving forward with his work, booking incredible models, in superb locations, often travelling miles including a week's trip up in Scotland earlier this year, booking tuition with highland photographer Dave Hunt, and also recently photoshop tuition with digital artist Rebecca Parker. He was quite unsure and nervous at first but with growing confidence he has gone from strength to strength, with his investments and enjoyment in his work clearly showing in his gorgeous portfolio.

His nudes in the landscape I think are especially strong. In particular I adore these two from a set you can view on his new blog - www.timbham.blogspot.com. I think Raphaella is such an utterly fantastic, breathtakingly graceful model and the light captured on these are wonderful. I adore the idea and composition of the last shot, the textures, tones, pose, and that tiny vine starting it's ascent up the wall - perfection! Well done Tim!

Oxford Locations & Studio

I received some wonderful results from two shoots I've done with hobbiest photographer Andrew Green recently. Our first shoot, organised very spur of the moment, was at Harcourt Arboretum near Oxford, which is complete with gorgeous peacocks strolling the grounds, and is lovely for a few hours working around the lush greenery, ponds, huge trees and wild flower meadow which allows for lovely portraits, fashion and natural 'english rose' styles with a few discreet nudes in the woodland.

The second shoot, we spent half the time working in Oxford city centre, against the beautiful architectural backdrops of intricate doorways, staircases, collumns and textured walls. The city is always so great to work in as even on duller days; the light from the open sky bounces off all the pale stone of the buildings illuminating the images and adding lots of lovely detail with the interesting features that can be photographed in so many different and creative ways.

Then we had time working indoors at Studio Blanco, which is a short walk from the centre, for fashion and nudes, including these gorgeous close-up portraits...

If anyone else is interested in doing a mix of location work and studio then get in touch for details and I can send you some various options for shooting outdoors and/or inside around my area ~ just email me at holly@ivoryflame.co.uk

My Next Studio Day - Sussex

*UPDATE - This day is sold out! So we added another date on Sunday 5th!! :-) Please enquire!*

I am booked in for the day on Saturday 4th September at The Cottage Studio, Sussex, recently featured in Digital Photographer Magazine! So if anyone is looking to book me in a studio then this would be a really good option, as it makes the model + studio prices a lot cheaper and all you have to do is turn up with your camera and we can create some awesome images!

I worked at this studio for the first time a few months ago and was really impressed with the space. There is a full width infinity cove, backdrop area and other sets available on the day, so you will be able to switch between background and styles easily, with lots of room for creativity. Whether you want bright and airy, shadowy, silhouetted or side lighting, there is plenty of room and equipment, with also a mezzanine floor to shoot from above and daylight area. For full details of the studio click here. The owner Brian will also be on hand to help if anyone requires assistance, and also has an array of cool props and accessories at the studio (including a rope, swing and old fairground horse as examples!)


Timeslots will be available from 10am and run til early evening. The more you book the cheaper it gets...
£100 for 2 hours
£140 for 3 hours
£185 for 4 hours
Considering my rates are usually £45 an hour and £160 for 4 hours, these prices save a lot on studio costs and there are no extra travel expenses to pay. If you want only 1 hour taster session this is also available for £60.

So if you would like to book in for a few hours then get in touch asap with me holly@ivoryflame.co.uk or Brian brian@thecottagestudio.co.uk.

Light & Form

The awesome Gregory Brown recently sent me a load of extra images for our past shoots, love the sidelighting and gorgeous sepia tones. If you'd like to see more then check out our work in previous blog posts here, here and here!!

www.gregorybrownphotography.com

London Fashion

I spent a fun day in London doing these images with photographer Ian Payne, who mixes awesome wide angles with dramatic lighting effects and loves going against the norm, as you can see with the huge platform trainers teamed with elegant ball gown dress! It was a weird experience for me walking around in the gothy clothes, but it's a cool contrast to wear a different style. It was also interesting trying to do a photoshoot on a moving escalater, whilst travelling up backwards, with photographer and photographer's assistant infront of me almost forgetting to tell me when the top was coming...we narrowly missed out on becoming of a squished pile of bodies and equipment a few times :P The shot on Millenium Bridge was fairly challenging too, with tourists and onlookers walking past and stopping to admire the scene 'Bellissimo!' and take photos... though magically they seem to have dissappeared in the final image, leaving a view of St Paul's Cathedral in the background :)

Loads more on Ian's website www.ianpayne.com

Today

Some shots from my shoot this morning, with Clive and Fran. Both fairly new to working with a professional model and doing art nude, we tried out some more side-lit set-ups as well as the usual high-key background that Fran in particular is used to with her client portraits. With the help of the wind machine to add extra mood, some silk fabric and colours to compliment my complexion, they got some beautiful images...

© Clive Thompson

© Francoise Stevens

Imagination

One talented lady I worked with again at the Binkertson Tuition Day in Rotherham was Miss Emma Goulder - EGo Photography. I have worked with Emma twice before at Rowe Photographic Studios and she is always so creative and imaginative, exploring her inspirations and pushing ideas to make really unique images. She often spends hours making her own props and sourcing outfits and accessories, and is great at enhancing her pics with funky editing - check these out!! :)

You can see more of Emma's work on her website www.egophotography.tk

Fancy Dress & Rollercoasters

I had a fun couple of weeks recently, including a day out to Thorpe Park the other weekend. I do really love theme parks, but I didn't realise there were quite so many horribly insane rollercoasters at this one. Collosus had 10 vertical loops, Saw Ride had an stomach churning 'beyond vertical' drop of 100º, and the worst one - Stealth, counts down to your 'launch' with a traffic light system that makes your stomach just about fold in on itself in nauseating dread, proceding to bullet you at 80mph in less than 2 seconds, over this ridiculously steep 200 foot high arch. Oh my god. It was over in about 5 seconds but enough to leave me a shaking, hysterical wreck, half crying half laughing. Good for stress though I think, having a good old genuinely terrified scream :) I have no idea what your body must be thinking when it is suddenly exposed to that kind of force so quickly, kind of mad what us humans do to entertain ourselves sometimes. We finished the day with the Tidal Wave, a water ride that has no mercy, completely drenching you head to toe, but with the hot weather it was quite refreshing!

Then a group of our friends all went out for my boyfriend's fancy dress birthday party. The theme was Cartoons & Superheroes, and everyone made such a huge effort, it was hilarious! :) We had Caption America, Danger Mouse, Mario, Batman, Robin, Joker, Poison Ivy, Mr Incredible, Cheetara from Thundercats, Wonder Woman, Lara Croft & Minnie Mouse. I wanted to be Pikachu from Pokemon but couldn't get my outfit so went as Snow White. I like dressing up a lot, last time was for a Mad Hatter's Tea Party and I went as the crazy March Hare...



I was up in Leeds & Rotherham for work this weekend, including the Tuition Day with Team Binkertson with Madame Bink & Adam Robertson at Rowe Photographic Studio, which was very enjoyable. I had a bit of nightmare with trains on my travels though, ticket problems, cancellations, and another delayed train I had to rush try and make my connection, and managed to jump on the wrong train, going a very wrong direction. I got myself sorted thankfully. Thinking about it I have been quite dippy lately, as I also lost my purse when I was out and have locked myself out the house twice in 1 week! I'm blaming it on the hot weather :)

I'm currently listening to 'Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart' by Alicia Keys, wow she has an amazing voice, I love this song. I buckled the other day and also downloaded Miley Cyrus' song 'Can't be Tamed'... should I be admitting this? :) I love the video with all the amazing outfits and wild energetic dancing, dark feathers, giant birds nest and cages... she's got a great creative team behind her helping her break away from the super cheesy tunes... she looks so confident and determined, it must be a great change from having to be the perfect smiling teen princess all the time. It makes me wanna do a raven/wild creature inspired shoot!

Timeless

Last week I came across these pictures of Marilyn Monroe that I hadn't seen before, I think they are just gorgeous. Her happy spirit is so mesmerizing, with her mix of childlike playfulness and sexy confident femininity, it is no wonder she was so adored the world over.

It's something I love about Scarlet Johansson too, that feeling of innocent curiosity coupled together with strong womanly sensuality, it's so enchanting and alluring.

Also, just a big thank you to all of you who read my blog, I added a counter to it and saw in just 1 month I had over 3000 visits from all over the world, wow. I hope you found it interesting, I will do my best to keep it updated as regularly as I have time :)