I took some photos at TG on a recent trip to Edinburgh. It’s a fabulous crowd up there, really friendly & with some amazing outfits. The venue’s the best I’ve ever seen for a club, all the walls are hundreds of years old & the lighting’s fantastic so it makes for some great photos.
Lots of photos of Edinburgh itself & A great Kabarett night to come in future blogs.
I’m always keen to shoot alternative & fetish models as they bring something different from day to day glamour, Ruby being no exception.
We started off with some natural light shots. As this is what I do most, it’s ideal to have as a warm-up. There’s no setting up of lights & I know exactly where the light works so it’s a great way to get models relaxed before I do anything experimental.
When we moved into the studio, I did something I pretty much always do & forgot to change the camera settings over from natural light, resulting in a very bleached out image. I had a mess around with it in photoshop as I liked Ruby’s expression & ended up with this oil painting, which I really like.
This was what I was aiming for once I’d set my camera up properly! The fairly strong contrast seems to complement the outfit & gives the photo a hint of Marlene Dietrich.
With this shot I was trying to light the shoes to show that they, the bracelet & the tie have matching teeth, but as it turns out, the shots that showed that didn’t show Ruby off as well, so I chose this one & used another pose to showcase the outfit…
…this one.
Model: Ruby True
Make-Up: Tabitha Adams
I always enjoy shooting latex; it’s shiny, & the people who wear it are usually fun to work with, so I jumped at the chance to shoot the lovely Lady Lucie in her own creations. I’ve seen her wearing them in photos on nights out many times before, always looking fabulously glamazonian, so very much looked forward to replicating that in a studio setting.
What I didn’t realise in advance was that she’d never actually had a studio photoshoot before, & the confidence she pulls off so well when out & about is in large part to being out with friends in a club atmosphere (oh alright, & maybe a lager or two).
Because of this, I foolishly assumed she’d need no help with posing at all (note to photographers: never assume anything), & was quite surprised when she started out quite nervous in front of the camera. She soon relaxed into it though, like a duck to water in fact, & I think we ended up with some lovely shots.
We hadn’t planned to shoot the nudes, she only brought two outfits with her & when I asked if there was anything else she’d like to shoot, she pointed at a nude on the wall (a nude photo. There are no actual nude girls attached to my walls) & said “I want that one”
My back was playing up at the time, & I was finding it difficult to get down on the floor without groaning for the shots. Note to photographers: When lying down on the floor in front of a naked woman, it’s best not to make a “Uuuuuuuunh” noise if at all possible.
It’s great that Lucie’s happy for me to post the nudes, partly because she looks amazing, & partly because far too much fuss is made over nudity, it’s our natural state, & it frustrates me that the likes of Facebook try to make us think it’s somehow wrong to not be fully clothed at all times.
Lady Lucie Links:
Website: http://www.ladylucie.com/
Blog: http://lady-lucie.blogspot.co.uk/
Blog about this shoot: http://lady-lucie.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/i-had-pleasure-of-doing-matt-christie.html
Twitter: @LadyLucieLatex
Here’s some photos from a shoot I did with Charlie Buckitt featuring Am-Statik Latex. I saw Charlie performing in her cabaret show The Late Night Shop wearing the wig she has on in the photos, & thought she’d be great to shoot, & happily wandering up to her in the bar afterwards worked. Turns out I’d met her a year before that & hadn’t recognised her, but to be fair she looks a bit different without the wig & face paint 
You can get an idea of the lighting set up I used for the studio shots here
Things I learned from this shoot :_
1) Tall girls in heels & a big wig are very hard to fit in front of my studio background without spilling over. I decided to make this a deliberate look .
2) Am-Statik make great latex. Actually I knew this already, but am happy to keep mentioning it.
3) Getting changed into latex takes a LOT longer than getting changed into underwear, it’s wise to allow more time accordingly.
4) Latex bunny ears are supercute
Skin’s one of those girls who the camera just loves. I’d met her in a club & thought straightaway that she stood out from other models, & she’s great to shoot as she brings a lot of personality to the shots, and comes up with unusual poses (more importantly, unusual poses that work!)
This first set was all shot with natural light. The smoking shot at the beginning wasn’t set up, she was just having a quick fag before we started. It’s always worth having the camera in your hand, you get some great natural shots when the model isn’t posing. The outfit is what she turned up in but it matched her hair & the top hat so well we shot it anyway!
This outfit was hired by my then girlfriend for a fancy dress party, it looked so amazing on her that I couldn’t resist shooting it with Skin. Note to photographers: It’s much better to check that your girlfriend’s ok with this first #relationshipfail
The outfits for this part of the shoot were provided by House of Harlot latex. The first is one of my favourite shots of mine, it definitely has something unusual about it. Probably because you don’t see people in latex strait-jackets every day of the week.
You can see more of Skin on her blog, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook
Hair & Make-up for all these shots by Natasha Daniel
Shot in Notting Hill, London
More latex & alt model shots here
Matt
x
What motivates me as a photographer? I suspect many people would think hanging out with models would do it, but that’s really not enough of a reason to devote your whole working life to something (not for me anyway!)
My motivation comes down to three things:-
1) Bringing about a change in someone. Take the following example…
Last summer I worked with someone who’d been in an abusive relationship for three years. Her boyfriend had made her feel unattractive and worthless, & having had the courage to break away from him, she’d decided to reboot herself by having a year of new, life-affirming experiences (now *that* would be a blog worth reading!), one of which was a semi-naked glamour shoot.
She arrived on the day enthusiastic but full of nerves, which is an ideal combination for me as I always seem to be able to get people to relax around me. She was really attractive, but understandably found it hard to believe that after what she’d been through. One of my absolute favourite things about my job (& there are quite a few to choose from) is watching someone like that blossom from frightened rabbit in the first few shots to sex kitten over the course of the shoot, and to see it (& help cause it to) happen in someone who’d had such a hard time made it one of my favourite shoots of the year.
I’ve seen this happen so many times, perfectly lovely people just don’t know how to point themselves at a camera, & in a world where we’re photographed daily, it can have quite an effect on someone’s confidence. To help show them how attractive they can look and to give them more confidence makes me happy. I’ve always felt that a person’s attractiveness is mostly to do with what lies beneath the skin, so it’s just a case of bringing it to the surface.
2) Something shiny & new.
I’m often asked what my favourite photo of mine is, it’s usually the most recent one where I’ve done something creative. There’s something exciting about finding a new background, angle or lighting setup that always gives me a tingle when I get it right. It can be quite terrifying to step out of my comfort zone but it’s pretty much always worth the effort. I realised towards the end of last year that I was losing my work mojo, & it was because I was concentrating solely on paid work and not being creative as well. I’ve started 2012 with some more creative shoots such as latex, couples, (boys, DJs, first glamour for a while & art nude to come in future blogs), and I’m suddenly more fired up about my photography than I have been for quite a while.
3) Praise.
Yep, I’m not ashamed to admit it, I’m sufficiently insecure that I’m motivated by praise. I have a job that brings me quite a bit of it, & I never get remotely tired of hearing it. I’m drawn to shooting portfolios for better known models more for the response it’ll bring than for the photos. I can’t help it, it’s just the way I’m built, I’ve always had jobs where I got plenty of feedback as I went along.
In summary, give me a nervous newbie, a creative pro or someone amazing who’ll get me lots of blog comments & I’ll continue to be a very happy and motivated photographer.
Matt
x
Shooting latex is something I enjoy, there’s something about the way the light picks out the material , especially with brighter colours as we shot here. AmStatik’s designs are the most intricate & colourful I’ve seen, & she manages to get a quirky sense of humour into the outfits as well.
You can see more of my latex work here
Model: Luna Eve
Latex: AmStatik
