MATERIAL TUBE PHOTOSHOOT

Every now and again I try and squeeze in a photoshoot that’s not work related. Something creative and fun. Last year I worked with 2 great dancers Kirsty Clare and Fern Maia on a flour shoot. I was really pleased with the shots I got from the shoot and was already thinking of collaborating again with them. The material tube photoshoot was born.

Fern in a long thicker material tube

I wanted to do something that would take advantage of their knowledge of both body position and  flexibility. So I decided that using stretched material would make for some interesting shots.

Kirsty in a full length thinner tube.

I bought a few different types of material as I had no real idea of how stretchy it would be or if it did stretch would it become too see through. After buying the material I had them sewn into varying length tubes. The idea being to get Kirsty and Fern to squeeze into them and then create shapes from there.

I had a variety of tubes made, long, short, open one end, open both, cream, white and different thicknesses.

B&W photo of Fern in a thin shorter tube.

On the image above I really wanted to try and emphasise Fern’s physique. So by lighting her with 2 strip boxes set slightly behind, one on on either side has created a few lovely shadows that have brought out her tone. I lit it with 2 Bowens Gemini 500’s each fitted with a PhotoSEL 140×35 strip box.

As I did on the flour shoot, I had in mind the idea of having the tubes coloured to give a different look to the images, so I added a 2 tone gelled effect in post.

Kirsty in a coloured tube

Thinking up and creating different poses was made much easier, as I was able to give suggestions to either Fern or Kirsty  and whoever was out of the tube could help with physical direction. This further helped the model inside the tube as their vision and mobility was vastly reduced.

Sometimes and by chance you spot a shadow, shape or angle that reminds you of something. A good example is the image below, which reminds me of a Polar Bear.

I call this one ‘The Polar Bear’.

One of my personal favourites from the shoot, is the image below of Kirsty. I think the pose is superb and love the way the material has stretched. I do have a love of monochrome photographs, to me giving the image a very classical feel.

One of my favourite images of Kirsty from our material tube photoshoot

In contrast here’s another very colourful edit, this time of Fern.

Pink and Blue Fern

I always listen to what the models would like from a shoot. Fern was happy if a few body details could be seen through the tubes. So I took a few shots of Fern within the tubes made from the thinnest material. I love the fact you can see the outline of Fern’s body inside the tube, yet it’s soft and diffused by the material.

Soft contours within the tube.

Here’s one more of Fern within the thin tube, this time with a touch of blue. Again I love the fact that the material allows the viewer a glimpse of Fern’s body through it, but diffuses enough to leave intrigue.

Fern inside the thinnest material tube.

This was another really fun shoot with Kirsty and Fern, we were laughing throughout the shoot…it’s hard not to laugh watching a woman wiggle around like a Penguin in front of you.

The last picture from the material tube photoshoot is another one of my favourites. I love the shape that Kirsty has made, really stretching the material to the maximum. Again, it might just be my interpretation but it reminds me go the film ‘Alien’.

Kirsty striking an ‘Alien’ like pose.

I hope you enjoyed reading about and looking at some of the images from our material tube photoshoot. I’ve already worked again with Fern on another project, so watch this space. If you would like to find out more about Vivid’s video and photography services, please visit our what we do page. Alternatively call a member of the Vivid team on 0161 477 2404.