My First Test Shoot
Inspired by Magritte’s les jeunes Amours / First Love
"Gosh it sounds like a rock band. Look what sprouted over the last few days!”
Over the years Ygraine and Oliver have frequently featured in our work, the most notable images to date are for our Magnum Opus Dreams of Diamonds.
As the old saying goes ‘time waits for no man’. Oliver is now in his mid-teens and Ygraine is twelve, but they have continued to remain a source of inspiration for us and we’re delighted to announce they will feature in our new project Magical Landscapes Secret Places.
We’ve been photographing them for over a decade - in Ygraine’s case, she was just three years old when we took the first images of her that would later appear in Dreams Of Diamonds and Magical Landscapes Secret Places.
Sometimes you take a gamble when photographing the same models from a very young age through to their teens. Faces can change dramatically, bodies change, equally important, attitudes change. However, we’re pleased to say we’ve been extremely fortunate with our decision to continue to use Ygraine and Oliver, as the years go by they just keep getting better and better both in looks and personality.
The image below - one of many taken that day - shows our wonderful niece and nephew Ygraine and Oliver, with their little dog Dora. This was taken earlier this year, August 2017, at the Quiraing on The Isle of Skye, during their holiday to Scotland. Dora, by the way is a little Boston Terrier, whose full name is Pandora.
Throughout our career we’ve been privileged to be part of many amazing projects. Without a doubt Treasures Of The Sea was one such project, and remains one of our all time favourite shoots. We adored the little seahorses and spent hours watching them whilst they were in our studio. They are fascinating creatures, each had its own personality and there was a hierarchy in the chain of command. Certain members of the group were always more curious and the first to come forward whenever there was any activity. We gave all of them names, Redi Lee and Scampie being two of our favourites.
The finished project is beautifully presented on our website in - Projects. However, we thought you’d like to see some of the behind the scenes images from the shoot, which include the 20 x 24” Polaroid Camera images and other photographic formats used. There are also a few shots of myself (Christine) taken at a later date, working on the Polaroid Emulsion Lift images.
We've promised ourselves that at some point we’ll have to do something with all the images from this shoot, which are not part of Treasures Of The Sea. Possibly an exhibition, who knows!