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.
