TFCD in Cambridge

It was the 4th May and we were off to Cambridge to do a shoot with a new aspiring model called Alexie.

We arrived at Alexie's at 10:30 and spent an hour or so discussing and choosing outfits for the shoot.

Alexie had arranged for her friend Jess to come over to do her hair and make-up and I must say she did a good job.

Once our lovely model was ready we were ready to go to the first location ... which was the garden area at the back of her flat! :)

There was a beautiful cherry blossom tree outside and some of the cherry blossom had fallen to the ground, which looked very pretty. Considering Alexie had not done much modelling before and had only just met me and Ross, she was very comfortable with us and in front of the camera.

We then all jumped into our car and went to the next location .... which was just around the corner! A foot and cycle bridge over the railway tracks and me and Ross both got some shots here.

As always when I’m shooting, Ross will assist and I do the same for him when he’s shooting.

If you ever get to see us work together, you’ll see that we make a really good team.

The next location was the Mill Pond, a local park. It had some trees and even some punts. As always Ross and I used the surroundings to our advantage. At one point Alexie was brave enough to pose herself nude on a big tree trunk. I’m sure when you see the shots you will agree they're beautiful.

Jess had brought along a gorgeous ball gown, so we got Alexie to wear it and pose on a punt.

Unfortunately the boat men wouldn’t take Alexie out on the boat without payment. Oh well.

Despite this Ross got some stunning pictures.

After a lovely lunch at a local pub, we got Alexie into a swimsuit. We got her in the water by the pints and then went to the otherside of the park where the weir and main pond are.

In some of the shots you will notice my floppy summer hat. I always take my hats to these shoots (one of my other hats was used for some of the shots on the bridge as well).

We'd been at this all day and by this time it was early evening. But there was one more location we wanted to visit - an old graveyard!

We all agreed to put Alexie back in the ball gown, which is the oppsite of what you’d expect to see someone wearing in a graveyard. But it really worked a treat and we got some amazing shots.

Ross and I would like to say thank you to Jess for all her assistance on the day and obviously a big thanks to Alexie, our beautiful model.

Check out our Facebook page to see more photo’s from this shoot.

Also if you are an aspiring model and would like to book us for a portfolio shoot, check out our website.

(PLEASE NOTE : We have no TFCD slots left for 2010, unless you have some exceptional shot ideas!)

COMING SOON:-

THE LONG AWAITED TRASH THE DRESS BLOG!

WATCH THIS SPACE

Trash the dress Location search part 2

It wasn't the best weather in the world, but while Ross and I had a rare day off we thought why not check out some more locations for Trash The Dress.

Ross had seen a nice portrait shot of a model on some rocks by Jay Fuller - posted on Model Mayhem.

He messaged Jay and asked where it was taken. Thinking it would be somewhere exotic we were both surprised to hear back that it had been taken on a beach opposite jaywick martello tower in Clacton!

So we decided to drive off and have a nose around. When we got there the first thing we did was wrap up warm. It was awful :( The weather, as always in this country, was cold, wet and windy.

We walked over to the tower which in its self was interesting. A tall, round building with an interesting shape and history.

But it wasn’t the tower we'd come to see so we made our way over to the beach.

It didn’t take long for us to get to the rocks (and these were proper rocks). With the wind and rain biting into our faces Ross took some pictures of the rocks and the surrounding area.

Despite the weather we were both impressed by this location. This will be great on a nice day.

Ok, so that was one location done. We next started to make our way to Walton On the Naze.

On our way there we spotted a sign for a park called Holland Haven Country Park.

Not much there really, a beach, a few trees and a car park. We took a few quick snaps and then carried on our way to Walton on the Naze.

By the time we got there the weather had got a little better (well it had stopped raining at least but was still cold :( ).

Walton on the Naze had most of what we where looking for, but no rocks that we could see though.

We walked along the promenade and near the pier olong the front of the sea wall we spotted a colourful wall with some columns. Again Ross took some shots.

On the other side of the pier there were also some beach huts and the sea wall - and some long stairs going all the way back up to the main road. All these might make interesting locations for the shoot.

Both Ross and I agreed that the first and last locations would work for what we wanted to do.

We’ve also been talking about when to do the shoot. We had been thinking of doing the shoot in March/April. But with the weather being the way it has been we are now thinking of putting it back to the summer or very late spring - end of May or maybe June, July ... maybe even September.

It’s going to be a case of keeping an eye on the weather and also when our couple are free.

Watch this space ....

Day trip to Southwold

Back in January Ross and I went to Southwold for a rare day trip away, as always we took our cameras. There’s a nice beach there with a pier, there’s plenty of opportunity to get some great landscape. This location would be great for our Trash the Dress Shoot, but it’s nearly a 2 hour car journey.

Below is a selection of picture’s I took.

Trash The Dress - Location Search

Part 1 - Location Search

They say location is everything.

Ross and I have recently been playing with the idea of doing a “Trash the Dress” shoot with some of our wedding couples.
A “Trash the Dress” is not necessarily about destroying your dress as the name implies, but more about shooting the bride in a location you would not normally expect and/or posing them in a way you wouldn’t normally have them posed on their wedding day.
Unless you’re given hours you would not have time to drive to other locations and set up more creative shots with your bride. Plus, laying down on a beach with the waves crashing over you on your wedding day (!) is not really a practical idea.

A beach with just sand is nice and can be interesting, but I want somewhere that maybe has some rocks that are big enough to lay on or stand on in a nice dramatic pose.
Somewhere with a pier would be nice. Shots taken under piers can be very pretty and creative. Shots out in a forest can also be very pretty and haunting at the same time.


So The Search Begins
The first location we looked at was West Mersea.

Personally I didn’t think it was the most interesting of places for a shoot. Just a beach and not a pretty one at that. It was very muddy looking and plain, with sand that looked like builders sand! Too many badly painted huts crammed in to one location. Even with the sun out it didn’t look any better (sorry West Mersea L).

Further to the east of the island was our next location to check. Cudmore Grove Country Park.
As soon as we drove up, Ross and I thought it looked a lot better than the last location.
There was a lot of land. It had a beach with some big rocks, small cliff faces, some trees and grass areas, a big pond, even a refreshment stand and toilets (great for grabbing a nice hot drink and somewhere to change clothes).
We both agreed that the location had some real potential.

We took a long walk around the area discussing different shot ideas and Ross even took some quick shots as a reminder of the different areas.
Turns out the “Rocks” are actually big slabs of concrete. WWII gun emplacements that were one of our first defences during the war and had now collapsed into the sea!

We talked about the idea of having our bride laying down or standing on some of the “rocks”, or even hiding underneath some of them.
The cliff side of the beach was also interesting and very colourful and suggested several possibilities to each of us, assuming we could get access to certain areas.

Again, unfortunately, there was no pier. But having said that, this second location was certainly better than the first one we looked at. It was a lot more inspiring and there was even a Pillbox left over from WWII. Just picture it; a woman in her wedding dress standing, veil and train flowing in the wind, standing on top of it, with the sun streaming behind her.


After a quick very late lunch at a nearby pub (another bonus for the location!) we drove off to our third location.
Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve – what a great name! - but we didn’t let the name put us off J.
Unfortunately we’d spent far too much time at location 2. It had now gotten very late in the afternoon/early evening, so we decided not to get out of the car and simply drove around the area as much as we could.

From what we could see it had loads of woods and plenty land, some crumbling walls and in the distance there even appeared to be a body of water with a jetty/small pier.

This location will bear further investigation!

I think the last 2 locations are strong possible locations for a shoot. They’re not to far from each other either, so we could possibly use both locations in one day!

2 out 3 is not bad, but I think another day looking at other possible locations is needed.

More to come, so remember to check back.