Exploring the Welsh Legend of “Blodeuwedd”
Photo Collab:Blodeuwedd
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved working with other creatives. People that love their craft as much as I love mine. It’s great to create an idea then attempt to turn it into a tangible form that you can share with others. For me, it starts with an initial idea. The inspiration for a shoot might come from fashion, someone I meet along the way, or a general feeling or topic I want to explore. I love creating concept boards that help me to explore the theme or idea enough to then explain it to others. My favourite app for this is Pintrest. I’ll create a board and then go hunting for anything that catches my eye. I let my intuition lead me.
Once the idea is fully explored I’ll start to look for others to help me bring that idea to life. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some very talented people. If you’re just starting out the best advice I can give you would to get to know other creative people in general. Look for local business networking groups in your area. Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to work with others. Ask around as much as you can. You’ll probably find that if you don’t know someone directly, you’ll know someone who does (if you know what I mean) I started by getting to know local hairstylists which led onto getting to know some great make up artists.
Once you’ve got your team assembled make sure that you listen to their ideas and incorporate these too. You can achieve a lot more together than you can on your own. Just stay open. Depending on the type of shoot you’re doing they’ll be some very practical things to sort out. Everything from finding a location, getting all of your permissions signed off e.g. model release forms, to hiring any specialist equipment you might need. Keep checking with your team to make sure everyone is clear on the objectives of the shoot and what you all want to get out of it too. Then you’re ready to go. On the day don’t underestimate how long the prep will take. It will always take longer than you think, so build this into your shoot. It can sometimes feel that this is the time when all those nerves and doubts start to creep in. Just focus on the process rather than the outcome. By the end of the whole thing you’ll be worn out, or should be, and you would have created some amazing work that you can be very proud of and can’t wait to show to the world.
