Behind the Shoot for Sand Copenhagen and The Book Magazine

This is an Editorial for The Book Magazine with all clothing by Sand Copenhagen.

I was in Copenhagen for two weeks with my dear friend Lena Lademann (blogger from Hamburg- http://lenalademann.com/) and between the fashion week schedule i thought i would squeeze a fashion shoot in. 

Its so amazing to be away from home and plan a shoot as you have to find new locations where you would want to shoot. When i shoot at home in Cape Town i have "comfort zone locations" like the beach or on the streets but when going to Copenhagen i literally went onto Google Maps and went up and down all the streets and wrote down some street names. After being there for a few days i knew i would prefer to do the shoot inside as it was just way too cold and i would feel bad complaining about the cold in 3 jackets when the models would be in a suit with bare skin. I decided we would do the shoot at the hotel we were staying in as the room was modern with decent furniture.

One hour before the shoot i decided it would be a good idea to walk 2km to get the clothing from the Sand store instead of just going on the train..really a stupid idea. My hands were literally like claws from the cold. So i made my mission back to the hotel carrying all the clothing over my shoulders.

The team arrived and i put some music on and we got everything ready to start the shoot. Of course my external flash was not working, it would work about 30% of the time otherwise it wouldn't fire..the joys of technology.

I am happy with the results of the shoot but wish i picked out some more clothing to choose from as we were quite limited.. i think the 4km walk with claws for hands made me just get 4 outfits for each model and nothing more.

Photos from the shoot are now on my website www.tornevelk.com

TIPS l HOW TO SHOOT FEMALE MODELS IN BIKINI'S

This is a post about shooting female models on the beach and what issues i have faced. Like in my last post i mentioned the model is everything so if she is confident and has a rocking body this is 90% of the image.

When its just myself and the model and i have arranged styling then the photo-shoot will maximum take one hour to complete.

TIPS FOR SHOOTING FEMALE MODELS IN BIKINIS

• This is a given..but the model having a good body kinda makes the image so its more of a challenge when the model is not exercising or in shape. Now i am not saying that if you are not a model going to gym that you cant post in a bikini all I'm saying is that the model is the main focus of the image and it will be easier to shoot someone who is well defined/toned. If the model doesn't feel she is in shape then its probably better to have her shoot in a monokini as they are less revealing. 

• If the model is a bit shy/new its better to shoot a more commercial vibe than a ""hot/sexy" shoot because you will immediately see the model is not fully into the mood and cant pull off the look you want. 

• BODY OIL/BABY OIL/COCONUT OIL..ANY OIL.Oil is so important for shoots or a lotion that glows/shines as the sun will give a beautiful glow on the skin 

• We all know the good old "hand on the hip" pose.. now everyone does it because it really does the trick with making arms look more toned.. There are many ways to do this without that over done hand on hip pose. You can get the model to turn her hand around on her hip (like the image in this post). You can have one arm going out with her elbow on her hip and the other hand holding the arm. Usually when a model has her arms against her body it gives the impression that her arm is bigger than it is just because her arm is actually pushing against her body.  When using your arms you need to make sure when you hold your body that your hands are on your hips and have your body 3/4 to the camera. 

• Self tanner or bronzer as no one wants to hurt there eyes and plus.. a good tan makes any one look good ;)

• The light... I once did a photo-shoot at 10:30am because the model was 2 hours late (cant believe i waited). I cant even explain to you how bad the light will look on any model in this situation. The light is making black shows and this is very unflattering. You want light coming from the side which would mean a morning shoot or an afternoon shoot. I have done a shoot at midday with a stunning model named Lera but we couldn't just shoot at any angle on the beach, we would find shaded areas with a little bit of light hitting the back of her head.

• make sure there are no people walking behind the model as thats extra work and that being said.. find a beach that is more quiet. There is nothing worse than a packed beach trying to find a gap and people making childish comments and then the model feeling uncomfortable.

• Making the model standing on her toes to elongate her legs and shows muscle definition

• The models face should be more up than facing down because of shadows that will show under the eyes and no woman wants that!

• Having a swimsuit that fits is also a biggy! You dont want the model wearing a bikini that is 10 times too small and things going wild!

• Its never the best idea to shoot the model from above as you are making her look short and just..unflattering

• If the model is having issues looking towards the bright sun, have her look away, down or close her eyes every other shot or so, until she can get used to the brightness of the sun. The closer the sun is to the horizon, the easier it is for the model to look towards the light (not into the light directly mind you!)

• if you can take props with then that is also cool! Like a Coke bottle with a funky straw, a towel to wrap around her head or a cool watch.

And lastly.. Stick your booty out to accentuate your curves. Be conscious of the 'S' shape you want to be producing. 

THE ISSUE OF FEELING THE NEED TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF

People pleasing... my biggest problem!

I so badly want to just say ," sorry i do not have the time at the moment." but instead,i will get into a 2 page letter as to why i cant right now and how sorry i am and what i am busy with at the moment and start going into my whole life history while Im at it.

A friend of mine told me something really special, he said that i am in control of what i do and say but how others react to what i do and say is none of my business. If i tell some one i dont have time (and i really dont) and then they are annoyed with me, that is not my problem. I will always try to make sure that when i dont have time for something that the person is also not annoyed with me and I'm sure you can imagine how time consuming that is and just ....pointless. People pleasing is an addiction that pleases no one! 

I am reading a book " The Art of Not Giving a Fu**" and also the TED Talk from the same author who says you need to put time and money into things that make you happy and fu** everything else that serves you no purpose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwRzjFQa_Og

When a model will ask me for photos from a shoot from 2 days ago i get so annoyed and again write a long message explaining why they wont be ready until next week and what i am currently busy with. After 5 years of sending the same messages to clients i finally realised its making me stressed and they will sometimes ask again in the next 24 hours. I have learnt that i was making myself  stress when i had the option to "ignore" or just say "hello, i will message you when they are nearly ready." Now when i say ignore i dont mean be an ass about it.. i just mean not spending 20 minutes of each day just replying to models about when their photos will be ready when there is no point of a daily update if the photos are not ready anyway.

I can be honest and say sometimes it has hit 2 or 3 months past the shoot and i am still not finished with the photos.. Photo-shoots are my only income so the paid photo-shoots will be done before the free photo-shoots..i need my gluten free sweet potato bread and kefir water.

I am trying to learn to be good to myself while being productive and NOT people pleasing.

This isn't about never doing anything for anyone else again. Its when you genuinely want to do something for someone and not when you're doing something just because someone else wants you to or you want to manipulate the situation. Learning the difference will help you make better choices for yourself. 

You need to value your time and your energy and also set boundaries. If you just say "no" its much better than doing something you dont want to do just to people please. There is only so much you can do in one day and you need to be clever with your time or you could be retouching photos for someone the whole day being annoyed that the only reason you are doing these photos before others is because they nagged you, People can WAIT.

I once did a photo-shoot for a client where we shot 40/50 outfits in one day (i was told 20) ..they talked down to me and asked me to hurry up with importing the photos and the cherry on top was getting fingers snapped in my face to "chop chop and hurry up". At any point i really wish i just said "listen, you are not respecting my work process i think its better you find some one else to do this photo-shoot for you"..But i did not and at the end of this shoot they told me the images were "unusable and any photographer would agree with them". They then said they would not pay me because they could  not use the images even though they used about 20 of the images on their online clothing store.. This could have all been avoided if i just said sorry but you can find some one else and not.. people pleased.

Another issue is feeling the need to explain yourself and what you are doing in your life. Your journey is unique to you and others journey's are unique to them.
People will always give you their opinion on your choices, your work and pretty much anything! Always do what works for you. What someone else does may not work for you.


so.. realise you have a choice, you have control over your time and you dont need to feel bad doing what works for you. Consider if something is worth it before agreeing to do it and realise that you can’t be everything to everyone. Life is too short for spending time and energy on things you dont want to!

Barcelona Summer '16

Barcelona doing what it does best.. being beautiful

Barcelona

Chapmans Peak- Cape Town

 Photos from our mission to Chapmans Peak a few months ago