Happy New Year everyone! Its my third day back in the studio after my annual two week festive break and, having caught up with over 600 emails and a massive pile of post, I’m back in full swing and catching up with some of my blogging! Today, I’m excited to share with you some recent photos of cabaret star, comedienne and international showgirl Ivy Paige, who recently invited me down to The MuMu Experience in Maidstone to shoot a series of new promotional images for 2014. Having had to reschedule our original plans due to those nasty British storms we’ve been experiencing recently, I headed down on via National Rail a week later raring to go!

For those who haven’t been to The MuMu Experience before, its a rather grand bar/restaurant right on the high street and full of beautiful chaises and chesterfields – an actual burlesque girl’s corner of nirvana! We set up for the shoot in the Burlesque Suite upstairs, where stylist Klare Ya Ya Wilkinson worked her magic on Ivy’s hair and make up. And what an awesome job Klare did too – Ivy Paige’s hair has been the topic of many discussions since a couple of teaser images went up on Facebook before Christmas.

Slipping into some black embellished lingerie and a feather lined robe, we started off in the corner of the suite, using one Einchrom Quadra A Head with a 135 Octa to throw some soft light onto Ivy’s face, whilst natural light from the window behind acted as a fill light. The image above was actually the very first image from the day during testing and happens to be my favourite from the day! For the most part, the colours of the room were really complimentary, with the exception of the velvet curtain curtain that was a pretty vivid bright red. The curtain has been desaturated in Photoshop to blend in better with the tonality of Ivy’s surroundings and make her hair pop out of the image even more.

Moving further into the room, we located to another curtain in a muted red satin that worked much better for full colour images. Posing both in front of and partially behind the curtain gave us a broader variety of shots, bringing in some of the decadent furniture every so often for sitting and reclining poses. Here’s another of my favourites from the session – I love how this pose against the flat edge of the curtain accentuates Ivy Paige’s curves. I think I might invest in a range of curtains for the studio, I’m thinking they could come in handy! Finally, Ivy changed into a stunning green bespoke corset, which you may recognise from my last shoot with Ivy back in 2012 for Cosmopolitan Magazine.

Inspired by Ivy Paige? If you’re looking to invest in some brand new images for your portfolio or promo material, why not pop me a little email via the contact page and schedule in your very own session.