Continuing with the outdoor theme of this summer’s shoots, today I’m pleased to reveal the images from my first shoot with performer Charlie Buckitt, Gardens of Cleopatra.
Charlie Buckitt has been on my list of people I’ve wanted to photograph for a while – and if you’ve ever logged on to her Instagram feed, you’ll know why! Constantly reinventing and pushing the boundaries of fashion, I was really excited when she mentioned she was heading back to the UK after several months of performing in Dubai and had a number of new costumes that needed shooting for her website and promotion.
We lucked out once more with the unpredictable British weather as we headed out to shoot in a beautiful garden hidden away in North London. Combined with the sunny weather and blossoming flowers all around, it really was an idyllic location – made even better by the fact that we had the gardens pretty much all to ourselves that afternoon. Setting down our suitcases in one of the sheltered walkways, Charlie finished getting ready for the shoot whilst I set up one Elinchrom Quadra ‘A’ head and a Rotalux 135 Octa set to low power to give me more control over the shadows cast by the sun.
We shot two completely different looks that afternoon (the other will feature on the blog next week) – the first being this intricately detailed beaded gold number, teamed with a black bob, heavy eyeliner and statement headdress. We started off with the shot above of Charlie leaning against one of the garden pillars, before heading further down into the sheltered walkway and down into the gardens to explore. The gardens provided so many interesting angles and viewpoints that we both lost track of time for a few hours, only stopping when we were both in desperate need for some water and shade!
In terms of post production on this series, I used the Upright function in Lightroom to perfect the perspective of the sheltered walkway, before heading into Photoshop CC 2014 to neaten Charlie’s fringe, fix her lip line, remove distracting branches from the background and get rid of a couple of bruises on her arm from lugging a heavy suitcase through about a mile of woodland!
Inspired by this Gardens of Cleopatra shoot? Look out for Part Two on the blog next week.
Inspired? Book your own boudoir shoot with me today – check out my boudoir photography packages here and then drop me an email with your preferred date. I can’t wait to hear from you!
I AM very inspired, I absolutely love these pictures! Very iconic and striking, my favorite is the long black and white shot, the composition is PERFECT.
Beautiful. I love the last image, The tone’s in her costume match the colours of the sandstone pillar and the paving and there are hints of the same shades in the pillar rose in the left of the image.
I wonder if she awaiting the arrival of Julius Caeser or for Mark Anthony?
Hello loved this post. The model looks like Siouxsie Sioux of Banshees.