Back in September 2010 Sky’s Angels launched a competition to find The Face of Sky’s Angels 2011 to coincide with the launch of their new magazine SA Magazine (Sky’s Angels Magazine).
We were invited to be the editors and official photographers of the magazine and we also became one of the official sponsors for the competition.
On the 31st December 2010 we had the task of counting the votes for each region (12 regions) to see who the public had given the most votes to … and also the second most votes (just in case the 1st winner could not make it to the winner’s day on the 8th January 2011).
After a long week of contacting the regional winners, we only ended up with 8 girls. Some of the girls could not commit because they had paid work and some others had fallen ill over Christmas …. and some girls just did not contact us back or started demanding all their expenses paid!
Obviously we pay expenses for paid work, but this was a competition they entered, with prizes including hundreds of pounds of prints, free portfolio shoots, massive exposure in a new magazine and at a launch show for the magazine being attended by talent scouts from both the UK and the USA, plus lots more!
Some people just don’t understand that modelling is a job and like any business you have to invest.
The morning of the winner’s day was freezing cold but thankfully we where not shooting on location but at bodyline studio based in Nottingham. The studio is over 3000sqft and has loads of sets to choose from.
The girls where told to arrive at 9:00am, most of which did. Some did arrive a little late, (public transport is always a nightmare). One girl knew in advance that she would be arriving a bit late and made us aware of this days before the shoot.
Only 5 girls actually managed to turn up at all. 2 pulled out at the very last minute (1 suddenly with flu, the other now deciding she couldn’t invest in herself)
But we don’t know what happened to other 1. She never turned up and never called.
They missed a great opportunity.
This also meant we had to adapt some things, which is something me and Ross are good at.
When the make-up artist arrived I briefed her on what we would need from her. Once I finished she starting making up the girls. I’ve got to say it she did a brilliant job considering she had to do it all on her own.
While the 1st girl was being made up, Ross was setting up. He even used me as a subject while he was testing the lights :¬)
What we were looking for was a model with ability and talent. Someone that can pull it out of the bag without being told. So to make it all about them, we agreed that Ross would not give the girls any direction at all while shooting, just a quick brief before he started. It was then down to the girls to give us the best poses and expressions.
The 1st set of pictures was going to be beauty shots and immediately 2 girls stood out.
While Ross was busy photographing, I was taking some behind the scenes pictures and chatting to everyone. All the girls were friendly and professional and very different from each other.
In between shooting and getting there make-up done the girls got some one-to-one posing advice from professional model, the lovely Sky Seraphin and some catwalk advice from professional dancer and fashion designer, Tyler Seraphin.
Before we knew it, it was time to have some lunch – which had been provided by Sky’s Angels very own Tracy and Dave. We didn’t stop to eat for long though because there was still lots for us to do!
The second part of the day Ross and I had come up with a challenge for the girls. They each got to choose which sets they wanted to use and choose their outfits and make-up.
Sounds easy, but the girls where given only 20 minutes for the makeup and then just 20 minutes to explain the shoot, have the lights set up and do the actual shoot. The clock didn’t stop ticking while we moved to the next set, changed clothes and reset lights. And again little/no direction was given to the girls. It all had to come from them.
A few of the girls did struggle with this challenge. Others just had fun with it and really tried their best. And it was easy to see that once again certain girls stood out.
Finally we were simply running out of time. And we still had a banner shot to take for the launch party, plus the actual cover shots for the magazine!
The next shot had to be for the banner that will be displayed at the launch party on the 14th February (buy your tickets now there selling out fast – http://www.skysangels.co.uk/buytickets.html).
We quickly set up a white background and got the girls into position and fired off a few shots. With that in the bag, we moved on to the cover shots.
Originally we’d hoped to shoot each girl separately in an Angel Outfit (hence Sky’s Angels) and then choose the best image from whoever won the competition
Unfortunately, because we’d run out of time and been let down by the outfit supplier we just had to adapt.
I suggested that we put the girls into a triangle shape and just change who was at the front. Give each girl 15 shots to nail the cover.
This also meant no matter who won, all the girls who bothered to turn up would be on the cover.
Unfortunately on reviewing the images, none of the girls pulled off a shot that was strong enough for a cover, so we had to resort to using their set shots.
There was one last shot which I thought would be good to get … and that was a big group shot of everyone that was involved in the day.
Once that was done we could all say our goodbyes and go home. It was a very long and hectic day, but a very interesting one. And I got to meet loads of new people and it was nice to see Tracy and Dave again.
Sky’s Angels will be running the competition again this year to find The Face of Sky’s Angels 2012. So if you’re interested in modelling, it’s the competition to be in.
The place to be noticed in 2011 is the Sky’s Angels Magazine Launch Party (in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support). There will be talent scouts, film crews, magazines and more at the show, plus celebs, prize draw and a designer auction.
There are a limited number of tickets available and this will be a ticket only event. No Ticket, No Entry … and no tickets are being sold at the door on the night!
So buy your ticket at www.skyangels.co.uk/buytickets.html before they all sell out.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Egypt Working Hoilday
We recently went to Egypt with the Kerri Parker Academy as the main photographers on their Modal Tutortials in the Sun trip.
We were originally given the impression that we would be doing both Fashion and Glamour, which I was happy about as I enjoy shooting fashion.
Unfortunately, I only shot the girls once because once there it was clear they did not want to shoot fashion at all and were only interested in shooting glamour - which was a shame because I was getting some great images and I really wanted to build up my portfolio with more fashion.
However, all was not lost because for the rest of the week I got to shoot behind the scenes, which I've always enjoyed, because I love capturing moments just as they happen.
To see more images you can go to our FaceBook Fan page or MySpace page you can also see our work on Flickr
Thursday, 4 November 2010
The Official Sky's Angels Magazine Launch Party!
Already one of the most talked about events across the entire country and through out the fashion industry, the Official Sky's Angels Magazine Launch Party is THE event to attend in 2011.
A fantastic night with celebrity guests, talent scouts a fashion show ... and Live music from the amazing Gemma Mewse (http://www.facebook.com/gemmamewsemusic?v=app_178091127385) and the fantastic sound of Show It Off (www.myspace.com/showitoffofficial) and then rocking the night away until the early hours.
We'll start the night with a fantastic fashion show with our 12 regional competition winners. After the show some of the designer clothes will be auctioned off to raise money for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity and we'll also announce the overall winner of the Face of Sky's Angels 2011 competition.
As well as loads of celebrity guests, the entire evening will be hosted by World Fashion TV's Johny Pach (http://www.starnow.com/johnypach) and actress Charlotte McDonagh (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heJSEnRs8ps).
The Sky's Angels Magazine Launch Party looks set to be one of the major events of 2011 and with tickets at just £20 each, this is one event you do NOT want to miss out on.
As well as entry to the party, each ticket gets you a free vodka shot or glass of bubbly on arrival, PLUS one free entry into the Magazine's prize draw (prizes include LCD TV, Wii console, iPad 3G, etc).
Stay tuned to the Sky's Angels Fan Page to see updates on the event and details on new acts being added (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skys-Angels-Fan-Page/145100722192066?ref=ts).
OVER 18's ONLY!
Buy your tickets now - over 100 already sold - so don't miss out!http://www.skysangels.co.uk/buytickets.html
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Two Babes and a Dude!
It all started when Ross wanted to arrange a group shoot at the studio (which never happened - but that's another story).
The lovely Jenny Clewlow responded to the casting call Ross had put on Purestorm. She was unfortunately already booked, but was very keen to set up a shoot with us.
I had originally seen Jenny on Facebook and wanted to work with her. She has a lovely look, already has a stunning portfolio and has worked with many great photographers already - so you can imagine how excited I was that she liked our photos and wanted to work with us.
We managed to find a date we were all free. Communication up to the shoot was excellent. Jenny is very organised and has a level head on those lovely shoulders. Ross messaged Jenny over Facebook and Purstorm with his ideas for the shoot and she was more than happy to turn Ross' ideas into reality.
We also contacted another model who did nudes, which was something lacking from our portfolio. The lovely model was Emma Alicia Robinson, who also had some make-up training.
We also contacted another model who did nudes, which was something lacking from our portfolio. The lovely model was Emma Alicia Robinson, who also had some make-up training.
Emma kindly offered to do the make-up for our shoot with Jenny and do her own too, which was a great help to us. Emma was very quick with the make-up and understood exactly what we required.
Day of the Shoot
When we arrived at the studio we received a warm welcome from Jenny and I must say she is just as pretty in the flesh as in her pictures. Not only that, but shes one very sweet person. We started the shoot with some simple head shots and later moved onto doing some glamour poses.
Ross and Jenny bonded straight way, you’d think they’d been shooting together for years.
There was a lot of giggling from everyone involved in the shoot and the time just flew by.
Before we knew it, it was soon time for the gorgeous Jenny to go :(
We have a lot more shots planned that we'd like to do with her, so will be arranging another shoot with her soon. Stay tuned.
Emma's Turn
We had the studio booked for another 3 hours. With Jenny gone it was now Emma’s turn in front of the camera.
When it came to shooting, Emma knew what we needed from her as a model. The make-up again was spot on for the sort of shots we wanted to get.
The other brilliant thing about Emma was her versatility. She can look very strong/striking one moment and then the next minute look soft/vulnerable.
For the first lot of shots Emma gave herself very extreme make-up, which worked brilliantly with the style of poses she was doing. Very strong fashion poses, lots of angles and curves and really great, strong facial expressions.
Emma had brought her boyfriend Jason along, who we also used for some shots. Again there was a lot of giggling between shots and again just like Jenny, both Emma and Jason were completely comfortable with Ross shooting them. It was hard to believe they hadn’t worked together before.
On this shoot I worked as creative director, stylist and I did a bit of hair styling for Jenny, which are all things I’m enjoying doing.
It was an all round brilliant and fun day and Ross did some of his best work ever. We all made a good team and got some great images.
Big thanks Jenny, Emma and Jason. You guys were great to work with and we must do it again.
To see more of Jenny's modelling work, visit her website
To see more of Emma’s modeling work go to her website
To see more of Emma’s make-up work go to
To see more of jason’s modeling go to his model mayhem profile
To see more of our work go to
You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook, Sky’s Angels, Model Mayhem, net portfolio, Purestorm and my space.
Monday, 14 June 2010
Studio Shoot - our last TFCD of 2010
For our last TFCD for the year, we thought it would be nice to do it as a group shoot with both girls and boys.
We decided to book a studio for a whole day and make the shoot an SAS shoot (Share A Studio). Basically a TFCD, but we all share the cost of the studio ... so the more people the better.
To make it cost effective we needed at least 5 people to come on board.
We had 4 girls, 1 boy and a MUA all interest in coming along.
Well 3 people confirmed straight away. Unfortunately, the MUA dropped out and after several weeks of umming and ahhing 1 of the girls and the guy dropped out.
Even though it wasn’t really cost affective for us, it was far too late to cancel the shoot and we would still have had to pay the studio. Still £35 each wasn't so bad for 8hrs in a 3000sqft studio with over a dozen sets.
Then on the morning of the shoot one of the remaing 3 models cancelled on us because she was having a few personal issues. I thought this was a little unprofessional, but these things happen. It was shame really because it was someone we have worked with a few times and liked working with.
Despite these problems we continued with the shoot. Our 2 lovely hunnies were the lovely Lisa Murray that we'd worked with before and Samantha Coe - one of the girls that was originally going to be on our Urban Shoot, but she had a blowout on the M11.
We got some stunning shots of our lovely hunnies. Both Samantha and Lisa were very easy to work with, took direction really well and know how to have a laugh.
Thank you my lovely hunnies. I hope we get to work together again soon.
Below is just a small selection of pictures taken on the day.
This was our last TFCD for this year, but we are currently running a special offer on a portfolio shoots, just go to http://www.campbellphotographic.co.uk/modspecials.html for more details.
To see the full album of images from this shoot go to our facebook fan page, flickr page or myspace page
London Fashion Shoot
As you may know, Ross and I love doing location shoots. It was for this reason that we decided to do a London
For this particular shoot I was going to be main photographer and we wanted 2 female models.
For this particular shoot I was going to be main photographer and we wanted 2 female models.
World renowned photographer Dave "Archangel" Hepburn and the Managing Director/Founder of Sky's Angels, former international model Tracy
They even said they’d buy some outfits for the shoot, which was nice of them :). We said we’d buy any other outfits; well it was our shoot after all.
But before we could buy any outfits we needed to find 2 models. As always Ross put a casting calling call out on Sky's Angels, Model Mayhem, Purestorm and Net Portfolio.
We had a massive response, so cutting down the applicants was a job in itself. Eventually we found the 2 models we wanted, Alicia and Ruta. They both had very strong looks, which was just what we wanted.
We also managed to get MUA Monkia Vasiliauskaite, after our original MUA pulled out.
So, we’d got our models and MUA, now we just needed to buy them some outfits. But what sort of outfits did we want?
For the 1st outfit we bought some vest tops with some lace looking detail on them - ne pink and one blue - which I thought would suit the girls colouring. We would pair the tops of with the models own jeans, plus some hats provided by us.
The 2nd outfit would be shorts with some summer tops which were mine, one black and the other beige.
So, that’s the outfits and models sorted - or so we thought! As you'll see from the photos, there are three(!) models.
Well, unfortunatley, the lovely Ruta had to pull out a few days before,the shoot. Ross put another call out and straight away 2 lovely models got back to us; Aisling and Dani.
We decided to us both girls because they both had great looks. However this did mean we were an outfit short.
So the day before the shoot was spent running around looking for extra shorts and tops. We had actually already done a lot of running around to find the first lot of outfits. We ended up going to Primark and Asda , which seem to sell good quality clothes for very low prices.
The Shoot
Date: June 3rd. Time: Very Early!!
After driving through the night, Dave and Tracy arrived at ours nice and early (6:30am!), which was a good thing considering we were going toLondon London
We left at 8am (ish) and strangely the roads we quite good. We actually got toLondon
We had a quick tea & coffee and then it was time to go to the allocated meeting place - which was Tower Bridge. We weren’t waiting there for long before our lovely models and MUA arrived.
Tracy
We got our models into their outfits, which was jeans, vest top and hats. While Aisling was having her make-up done, me and Tracy took Dani & Alicia away for a couple of quick shots.
We had only managed to get a few shots before some official bloke told us weren’t allowed to photograph there(!), which was strange because every other person was doing just that. Turns out because we had a MUA and pro kit they decided it was a full professional shoot and we had to get permission and pay £500! Didn't seem to bother him that it was a TFCD shoot.
To keep the peace we did as we were told - so annoying though that we had to stop. This sort of thing happened most of the day, but despite that we did all get some amazing shots.
While Alicia and Danni got thier make-up done, me, Ross and Tracy took Aisling off to do some shots. Tracy had found a way down to the riverside/beach earlier in the day, so that’s where we took her.
Thankfully there was no one there to stop us from photographing(!). We all got some fantastic shots of Aisling.
Back at the cafe, once all the girls were finished with being made up, Ross got a few quick shots while Mr Guard wasn't looking and then we made our way back to the beach.
It was very windy and one of the hats went into the water. Luckily Ross rescued it (didn't know he could move that fast!). He would have been very upset if had gone ... it was the hat he wore at our wedding!
After taking some great shots we got the girls to change into the shorts and summer tops. The makeup didn’t need changing because Monika had done a great job and the look she'd gone for was very versatile.
Once we'd got what we wanted to get at the beach, we moved on to several different locations. Because there were little Hitler's telling us to move on every 5 secs we had to be quick. Grab the shots we wanted and move on to the next location.
They even said they’d buy some outfits for the shoot, which was nice of them :). We said we’d buy any other outfits; well it was our shoot after all.
But before we could buy any outfits we needed to find 2 models. As always Ross put a casting calling call out on Sky's Angels, Model Mayhem, Purestorm and Net Portfolio.
We had a massive response, so cutting down the applicants was a job in itself. Eventually we found the 2 models we wanted, Alicia and Ruta. They both had very strong looks, which was just what we wanted.
We also managed to get MUA Monkia Vasiliauskaite, after our original MUA pulled out.
So, we’d got our models and MUA, now we just needed to buy them some outfits. But what sort of outfits did we want?
For the 1st outfit we bought some vest tops with some lace looking detail on them - ne pink and one blue - which I thought would suit the girls colouring. We would pair the tops of with the models own jeans, plus some hats provided by us.
The 2nd outfit would be shorts with some summer tops which were mine, one black and the other beige.
So, that’s the outfits and models sorted - or so we thought! As you'll see from the photos, there are three(!) models.
Well, unfortunatley, the lovely Ruta had to pull out a few days before,the shoot. Ross put another call out and straight away 2 lovely models got back to us; Aisling and Dani.
We decided to us both girls because they both had great looks. However this did mean we were an outfit short.
So the day before the shoot was spent running around looking for extra shorts and tops. We had actually already done a lot of running around to find the first lot of outfits. We ended up going to Primark and Asda , which seem to sell good quality clothes for very low prices.
The Shoot
Date: June 3rd. Time: Very Early!!
After driving through the night, Dave and Tracy arrived at ours nice and early (6:30am!), which was a good thing considering we were going to
We left at 8am (ish) and strangely the roads we quite good. We actually got to
We had a quick tea & coffee and then it was time to go to the allocated meeting place - which was Tower Bridge. We weren’t waiting there for long before our lovely models and MUA arrived.
Tracy
We got our models into their outfits, which was jeans, vest top and hats. While Aisling was having her make-up done, me and Tracy took Dani & Alicia away for a couple of quick shots.
We had only managed to get a few shots before some official bloke told us weren’t allowed to photograph there(!), which was strange because every other person was doing just that. Turns out because we had a MUA and pro kit they decided it was a full professional shoot and we had to get permission and pay £500! Didn't seem to bother him that it was a TFCD shoot.
To keep the peace we did as we were told - so annoying though that we had to stop. This sort of thing happened most of the day, but despite that we did all get some amazing shots.
While Alicia and Danni got thier make-up done, me, Ross and Tracy took Aisling off to do some shots. Tracy had found a way down to the riverside/beach earlier in the day, so that’s where we took her.
Thankfully there was no one there to stop us from photographing(!). We all got some fantastic shots of Aisling.
Back at the cafe, once all the girls were finished with being made up, Ross got a few quick shots while Mr Guard wasn't looking and then we made our way back to the beach.
It was very windy and one of the hats went into the water. Luckily Ross rescued it (didn't know he could move that fast!). He would have been very upset if had gone ... it was the hat he wore at our wedding!
After taking some great shots we got the girls to change into the shorts and summer tops. The makeup didn’t need changing because Monika had done a great job and the look she'd gone for was very versatile.
Once we'd got what we wanted to get at the beach, we moved on to several different locations. Because there were little Hitler's telling us to move on every 5 secs we had to be quick. Grab the shots we wanted and move on to the next location.
The last outfits of the day were 3 lovely maxi dresses that
I had gotten all the shots I wanted to get with the other 2 outfits, so I let Ross do rest of the shoot.
Ross and Dave got some great shots of all 3 girls, then Aisling had to go. We decided that would be a good time to break for lunch.
After coffee and bacon sandwiches (mmmm) we moved further down the river, grabbing shots and dodging Hitlers.
Once Ross & Dave had got what they wanted we called it a day. It was actually now early evening., so it was a good time to stop - especially with trying to get out of
It had been a long day but worth it because Ross and I got to work with Dave and Tracy , some great girls, a fantastic MUA .... and we got some fantastic shots.
I would like to take this opportunity to say to Tracy and Dave it was a pleasure meeting you both. Also thank you for all the encouragement you have given me and Ross.
You can find both Dave (
You can also find both Dani and Alicia on Sky's Angels.
If you would like to see the complete albums from this shoot go to either our facebook fan page, Flickr page or myspace fan page
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Trash The Dress- The shoot
Originally this Trash The Dress shoot was going to be with one of our clients. But due to having other commitments, they couldn’t do it.
Instead we decided to use a couple of models, we could also then get some raunchy shots as well :).
We asked the lovely Layla if she’d be interested in doing the Trash The Dress and she said yes straight away.
Instead we decided to use a couple of models, we could also then get some raunchy shots as well :).
We asked the lovely Layla if she’d be interested in doing the Trash The Dress and she said yes straight away.
Now we just needed to find a male model.
This was not as easy as finding a female model. Firstly there are less of them and secondly alot of the so called models that are out there are, well ... lets just say they're fooling themselves.
We put casting calls on various sites and got some responses. But the guys just didn’t have the look we wanted for this shoot. We almost gave up hope of finding a male model but Layla kindly put a post up on her Facebook page.
One guy responded Brad Wendes. We looked at his work on another site and we liked his look.
So we’d got the models, location, date set, time and of course a wedding dress (which we bought from the YMCA charity shop in Harlow - £15!).
So we’d got the models, location, date set, time and of course a wedding dress (which we bought from the YMCA charity shop in Harlow - £15!).
The dress looked lovely on Layla and it didn’t look to bad on me either(!) ... well I had to try it on didn’t I, LOL.
The Shoot
The date: 19th May
Luckily the weather seemed to be on our side. That’s the only downfall of shooting on location in this godawful contry - the weather!
It’s raining one minute and then blazing sunshine the next. We would have loved to have gone to some sunny location abroad, but we don't have that kind of budget :( .
The location we used was the beach at Jaywick, not far from Mortello Tower. The beach had plenty of big rocks to get our models standing or lying on.
I had to help with make-up and hair, because our MUA pulled out. I think me and Layla did a good job really considering neither of us have training. I needed the practice anyway. It’s a good skill to have, especially as finding a good MUA and Hairstylist is very difficult.
We started the shoot with doing the raunchy couple shots. For these shots we put our models in various outfits, jeans and t-shirt and later got them into swimwear.
Once we got all the raunchy shots under our belt, we then got our models changed into some bridal wear. Again I helped Layla with hair and make-up.
We were now ready to do the Trash the Dress bit of the shoot.
We didn’t want hundreds of shots, but instead we wanted a few very strong poses.
Despite Layla not feeling 100% comfortable standing on the big rocks, she gave us some really strong poses. We not only got Layla on the rocks we also got our male model on them. We got some shots of Layla on her own and some with our male model.
We later got away from the rocks and went by the sea and got some very sexy shots of our models together.
We finished the shoot by getting Layla to walk out of the sea. At this point we purposely smudged the make-up with sea water, which I thought was very effective.
To see all the pictures from this shoot go to our Facebook fan page:-
or our Flickr page
or our Myspace page:-
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