ingrid
Shooting with Ingrid feels like it was in another time. In a way it was, it was pre COVID.
Photographers in London might remember how many tiny “studios” there were before the pandemic swept through and took them away. They were barely studios to be honest, mostly just a warehouse to cold and damp to be converted into a flat for students, so they stuck a bunch of photography stands from Amazon in a room and called it a day.
So I met Ingrid in the cold studio a few months before we all learnt how much time we’d all be spending indoors soon. It was a sunny day. Probably one of the last time I spent walking outdoors without being careful not to come to close to another person.
I had raided the “fashion cupboard” in my old studio for a few bits. Mostly a nice long jacket which had been absconded by some stylist and a simple long sleeve white blouse. Along with a pair of heels that looking back, I can’t believe how much I hate. They look like cow hooves. Awful.
This was one of my first ever model tests all by myself. That’s why I think I remember little about her as I was focusing on getting some sort of useable set of images. I quickly realised that trying to go with the space, rather than against it was working better. Using the texture of the walls and the floppy old poly board was helping me frame her against the white background. I was loving the room become part of the set, probably some sort of inspiration from Annie Leibowitz.
I don’t remember having to pose her much, but she gave me shapes which cut a nice figure against the stark white wall behind her. Posing a pretty girl is something I’ve slowly got better at, but this was my first attempt. I wish I could say I put more thought into it, but not fucking up was probably the main idea going through my mind.
They’re decent pictures, nothing special, but again, I learnt something and brought it into everything else that came after.
