I’m not sure I can remember now how I first found Ava on Instagram. I think perhaps she’d shot locally, or with someone else I follow and I’d somehow stumbled across her photos. I was immediately taken in by her clear and raw passion for creating content and at the time she was posting regularly. Looking out for a new post from her daily rapidly became something I looked forward to every time I loaded the app. Not only was she modelling, but she also had started a photography account and it was enjoyable watching her learn and grow from that side of things too.
We began talking and although she’s not all that far from me anyway, Ava told me she was planning on doing a modelling tour into Cornwall. I told her I was interested in shooting with her and very quickly we confirmed some details of when that would happen.
As things would happen though, plans (as they so often do) needed to be changed and Ava’s scheduled tour had to be postponed at short notice. I was still off work though, so we chatted through an alternative proposal and swiftly we’d arranged for a beach shoot much closer to home for the both of us.
The one thing I was worried about was the light. Due to family circumstances we’d have to shoot during the afternoon which can sometimes mean the light can be quite harsh and unflattering. I pushed Ava as late as I possibly could and she was very gracious about it. No golden hour sadly! As luck would have it though, although bright, we had just enough cloud to diffuse things and keep us from squinting or blowing the highlights out all over the place!
For a couple of hours we walked up and down the beach shooting whatever came to mind and trying a few different looks. Ava is one of the ‘easiest to get along with’ models I’ve ever spoken to whilst shooting and within minutes we were riffing off each other like old friends. It made for such a fun time and the shoot flew by. And oh my God, her smile. I knew from the very first shot it was going to be one I was happy with and I’m really pleased at how it worked out.
Ava is a incredible, driven person and she’s someone I hope to work with and see a lot more in future. Please do consider dropping her a follow (her Twitter is much more active) and supporting her on her journey, though I will warn you, the content there is very NSFW!
