Personal Path to Publication

languagelearning

13 May

“I knew this would take a level of organisation I’d never independently managed before. They say go big or go home, well I was hoping to do both whilst creating art worthy of international publication!”

After getting a taste of taking my on-set responsibilities up a notch in a previous photoshoot, I pondered the possibility of creating and directing my own project. My first in my birth city London since I moved to Manchester, I knew this would take a level of organisation I’d never independently managed before. They say go big or go home, well I was hoping to do both whilst creating art worthy of international publication!

Conceptualising such an idea required me to make a note of all the tasks I needed to do (or assign) and put them in order of priority. If the shoot would really come to fruition, and as hoped be published, this stage of the planning process was very important.

Cue the internal interrogation that began as I decided this was something I was definitely doing…Where would the shoot take place? How many would be in my creative team and who would it consist of? What style of clothing did I want? What was the theme? Overwhelmed with options, I needed a spark of visual inspiration so I took to my preferred picture platform, Pinterest. After a session of scrolling through and selecting images, I made a moodboard that represented all the elements I wanted to incorporate in the shoot. Multicultural models and team members, luxury womenswear and a beautiful backdrop setting the scene.

Left: Renata Kovalcuk, Right: Aneta Kocisova, Photography Steve Lilly

Once done, it was time to draft a list of team roles and the names of people who I envisioned could potentially fill them. I posted a casting alongside the moodboard searching for photographers, models, hairstylists and make up artists who would want to join this project team and personally messaged a few favourites I’ve worked with on runway fashion shows and editorial photoshoots to see if they would be interested also. Along with my criteria, I also clearly stated in the casting that this was to be a collaborative project. Costs incurred by myself to pay for using the desired location, the venue where hair and make up setup would take place and travel costs between Manchester and London meant I unfortunately just couldn’t afford to pay everyone. Thankfully, that didn’t discourage many and applications came in thick and fast.

After the process of viewing portfolios and shortlisting those suitable, I created a group which would allow me to communicate with them all in one place. Before continuing, I once again reiterated that the shoot would be unpaid to make sure no-one was participating under any false pretences…you’d be surprised how many don’t read posts thoroughly and still ask questions which the casting itself answers. Having everyone’s agreement and understanding, we proceeded to select a mutually suitable date. With that, I contacted the venue and requested use of the grounds. This all had to be done through official channels as it was owned by the local council. Paperwork had to be completed and sent back and payment had to be made. Luckily as one of the designers was a student of the London College of Fashion at the time, we were able to get a student rate. I was then able to allocate more of my already low budget to a space which would be our meeting point and setup site. I contacted them, making the most of having a student on our team and used my powers of persuasion to negotiate a deal.

I wanted to avoid getting the team prematurely excited about potential sites but once confirmed, I was pleased to inform them that our shoot location was one of London's hidden gems, the stunning Pergola And Hill Gardens Park in Hampstead and our meeting point would be the Burgh House and Hampstead Museum. It was nice to get those ticked off the job list and look forward to the day. My next task to arrange collection of the garments. To give each model some outfit variety, I’d arranged garments from 2 different designers, both with a high end aesthetic. One of them was Manchester based so I collected those a couple of days before and the other was just outside of London so she kindly agreed to meet us on location. It was soon the night before and time to make sure everything and everyone was ready to go. It wasn’t until that moment that I realised almost everything was in 2s…2 venues, 2 designers, 2 photographers, 2 make up artists and 2 hairstylists (one of which was Heavy Pencil’s very own Rhiannah Rose). It made me very happy to know that all these people, along with our 4 models, trusted and wanted to be a part of my vision.

Driving from Manchester at 5am and arriving on location at 10am, I had to coordinate and communicate with everyone before I even got to the styling part of my job. With everyone in place, I designated outfits and got them steamed and prepped whilst the models had their hair and make up done. As soon as we were ready, we made our way to set. Like most creative projects, for all the time that goes into all the planning, the day itself goes very quickly. It was an amazing day and experience with the perfect team.

A few months passed before we got the news we’d all been waiting for, a successful submission into an international publication with them selecting 14 images. A week or so later, our 2nd photographer got a further 9 images accepted into another magazine. Lifelong memories in digital and print, I was ecstatic! Dream. Believe. Achieve.