After September’s trip to London I didn’t think I’d be shooting any further until my annual trip to Thailand in November. As things would happen however, there was time for one final shoot in Exeter.
A few years ago I had decided to get a tattoo on the inside of my arm. My very first tattoo was a bit of a poor job (I still need to sort that out!), so I’d been determined to find someone really good for my second. I’d discovered Laura on Instagram and was really impressed with her artwork. To this day, it was the most gentle tattoo I’ve ever received and Laura struck me as such a kind and talented person (it also helps ease the pain being tattooed by a beautiful girl – that’s for sure!).
Fast forward to the present and I’d continued to follow Laura’s work, being impressed more and more by her developing skills. Laura must have picked up on my constant ‘likes’ as all of a sudden I realised she was following me back and seemed to like my own stream.
We began chatting and it was clear that Laura is artistic in lots of different ways. Included amongst that was cosplay and photography and we realised we had much more in common than we ever first realised. Laura asked me if I was interested in shooting with her? I couldn’t say yes fast enough!
Laura has a fun sense of fashion and I left it to her to decide the outfits. The most exciting thing for me was the inclusion of a bunny mask – a bit of a fetish – but something I was very keen to try out. As I want to push my photography in new ways and become edgier, this was a great opportunity.
The day came and it was miserable, grey and cold. On the plus side, at least the streets were pretty empty! I don’t know how Laura stuck it out, especially near the end when she wasn’t wearing very much and the temperature was plummeting. She was an absolute trooper and I really can’t say enough good things about her. Laura hasn’t modelled much before, but I thought she did great and was really confident in her posing.
This was my first portrait shoot with the new 77D and I learned a few things about the camera that afternoon. Sadly some of my most favourite shots I had to throw away due to technical issues, but I think we still managed some really cool images.
I hope I’ll get another chance to shoot with Laura, she’s super fun and nice! For ink lovers, I would highly recommend following her Instagram – she has some beautiful work and please do consider her for your next piece!
