Final Shoot

Yesterday I did my final shoot for my latest university project. There isn't much to say about it really, it was a fairly stressful time, I managed to get a model, MUA and hairstylist in the last hour of the last day whilst lots of money was borrowed and spent, it all came together with an amazing team! I styled directed and photographed the entire shoot with bondage/tailored inspiration all about the textures and light. Now all I need to do is finish the edits and put them in magazine layout (with a title I cannot think of!) which will follow soon. As for now, here are some of the shots I am thinking of using...

Jessica x

Photography/Styling/Creative Direction: Jessica Gates
Model: Courtney King
MUA: Lucy Oldham
Hair: Justine Houzego

No Time...

I haven't had many chances to post recently, so whilst I had a spare five minutes I thought I would share some progress for an upcoming deadline. Today I was in the studio experimenting with lighting for my final shoot! Here are some test shots which the very lovely Emily stood in for in order to test, I'm sure she will love this post ha! I have a studio finnnnnally sorted, all my styling is posted and on it's way whilst hair and makeup is tried and tested. Now all I need is the very important factor of a model, MUA and hairstylist, so if anyone knows any... send them my way ;). I can't wait to shoot this and pop it in layout. Come back too see how this lighting translates on my bondage concept and styling. 

Jessica x

Photography: Jessica Gates

Daisy Daisy Millinery

So today, I shot the wonderful S/S 13 collection from Vicky at Daisy Daisy. It was so nice to just chill out and do a shoot without all the pressure of a sketchbook to back it up! Here are some previews from  todays studio. Take a look at Vicky's website, she is very talented and each piece is a one off! 

Final edits will follow as soon as I get access to photoshop... Here are some behind the scenes:

Jessica x

Hats: Vicky 

Makeup: Chhimmi Gurung of Call Me Chim

Model: Joanna Parker

Styling: Emily Grimes

Photography: Jessica Gates

Mary Katrantzou...

Following on from the previous post 'Mary Katrantzou S/S12 & A/W12' here are a selection of my favourite designs and images I got the opportunity of capturing on the runway from Mark K's previous two collections:

There were so many amazing images and designs that I found it extremely hard to narrow it down to these select few. Maybe in another post I'll upload some more but for now here are just a few. Obviously all are incredible but I love the two floaty dresses (3rd & 4th row) they just photographed beautifully and glided down the runway.

Jessica x 

Photography: Jessica Gates

Mary Katrantzou S/S12 & A/W12

As we all know, today marks the start of LFW. Whilst wishing (no... praying) I was able to be there, I am still buzzing from the brilliant opportunity I gained on the eve of the biggest event in the fashion calendar! Sponsors of LFW, Vodaphone invited over 1000 customers into the official BFC show-space to an exclusive private view of Mary Katrantzou's amazing creations. The catwalk show was spilt in two with backstage hair/makeup and a video message from the lovely Mary herself which separated her S/S 12 and A/W 12 collections. 

I managed to come by the chance of photographing the show from the official photographers pit. Apart from being in the audience at London Fashion Weekend I have never documented a catwalk. So, this was evidently going to be a little daunting for my first experiment with runway photography. And it was, but as soon as I was looking down the lens at all the beautiful pieces from such an iconic designer and one of my favourites, I was completely in the moment! And believe me... It was incredible - I enjoyed every second, every step taken and every click of the shutter. 

I haven't had a chance to edit down the hundreds of pictures I managed to capture so here is a couple of shots of the army of models as a preview:

A sea of red soles:

More to follow soon!

Jessica x

Images: Jessica Gates

Final Outcome

From the images of petrol spills (seen in University Begins Again and More Petrol) which gave us inspiration in the form of vivid colour, high shine, reflection, metallic, gloss and the oils inability to merge with water - we came up with our final concept and styling. We were so excited to create our final editorial, and it was lovely to work in a group that got along so amazingly and were all so passionate and dedicated. 

Inspired by a filmic photographic direction influenced by Blade Runner this is our final fashion spread. We aimed our concept and outcome for Interview magazine as we felt the magazines own photography reflected ours and would keep with the visual identity of our shoot. Interview is forward thinking and would be perfect to encapsulate our forward thinking styling. We also admired the clean and simple layout, which would show of the styling and photography without distraction. 

Jessica x

Photography: Madi Browne & Hannah Spencer
Photography Assistant: Claire Gerrard
Styling: Emily Grimes & Rosie Bertuello
Retouching and Layout: Jessica Gates