Photography Blog by Duncan Holmes

Sometimes things happen, outwith your control and somehow a miracle occurs and everything works out to perfection. I'd arranged this shoot sometime ago, tweaking and perfecting as I went until we had two talented makeup artists, Jillian Elizabeth and Aileen Wallace, two models and clothes from HandmadeinPartick.

So I collected the first of our models, Hazel Martin (who I'd had the pleasure of working with before at the ten30 shoot last year) from Ardrossan South Beach station, then we went to the Waterside, who had kindly granted us access to a table on their patio for makeup and theirr toilets for changing. The designer had kindly volunteered to pick up our other model at the station in Glasgow, but the model was a no show, not a whisper of why she wasn' there. So, Hazel and I drowned our sorrows in coffee and Rocky Road chocolate biscuits, trying to work out how we would get two makeup artists gainfully employed on one model.

Aileen and Jillian turned up quite soon after and we sat in the developing sun, drinking coffee, hot chocolates and tea and awaiting the now delayed Lorna, with her designs. Makeup then ensued with the two ladies working together on Hazel to create a warrior woman, with a wound or two to show she'd been in the wars. A little gentle persuasion and I now had three models, as they both gamely agreed to step in front of the lens.

Once Hazel’s makeup was done and she was looking suitably fierce, Lorna dressed her in one of her outfits and Hazel and I drove up the beach a bit to start shooting. (Given that the Waterside had been such congenial and understanding hosts, it would have been churlish to then set off a bunch of smoke effects right in front of their patio).

Hazel was such a joy to shoot, getting right into her role of warrior woman as she donned a broadsword and scabbard to complete her look. We shot for a little while, before being distracted by a nearby ice cream van. A cone and a nougat later and the other ladies managed to find us and join us. Lorna’s pop up (but impossible to pop down, as we found out later) wind break acted as a shelter for bits and bobs and changing area for Jillian and Aileen.

Not being models themselves, it took Jillian and Aileen a little longer to warm into their roles, but they were soon swinging swords and posing alongside Hazel with true style and grace.

We shot for a while at the shoreline and paddling in the sea, before finally breaking out the smoke effects, much to Lorna’s delight as she was placed in charge of the BBQ lighter, pellets and powders.

We got some very dramatic effects with the addition of the smoke and some of the shots are looking great. Though, I had to shoot quick and often due to the short duration of the smoke and the general unpredictability of chaotic motion.

So, except for some very unexpected sunburn (we’d all thought we’d be needing thermals, not factor 50) we had a very successful day. A coffee at the waterside to bid farewell to Aileen and Jillian, before chips in Largs for the rest of us.

And so the editing marathon begins.

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