When I promised Neesha our lovely model a night on the tiles I think she may have had something else in mind.
What I meant was a fashion shoot in a damp, freezing cold, dilapidated Victorian Bath house complete with dead pigeon in the pool. I couldn’t have been clearer.
It must be another Westender Fashion Shoot.
The last time we worked with Neesha I had her climbing trees, jumping streams and getting down with the creepy crawlies, so this should be a breeze!
A week earlier when editor Suz and I turned up to do a recce we knew immediately that this was the perfect location for our ‘colour clash’ shoot.
The venue, Govanhill Baths is a Victorian era swimming pool that is currently trying to raise funding for restoration work. It has three pools (all drained) with original features in abundance, tiles, stalls, seating, iron work and an amazing high glass ceiling.
The ceiling provided plenty of light, albeit a little flat so I brought a few lights and modifiers to add a bit of sculpting and ‘up’ thedrama.
We had access to a bright large kitchen which was perfect for MUA Terri Craig who created some really bold colourful eye make up including ombre eyebrows. Yes I do know what ombre eyebrows are!!!! Well I do now.
There was also plenty of space for stylist Viv Masters to set up a wardrobe area for her clashing colour selection of clothes, which included a pair of pink suede lederhosen. If pair is the right term… never really understood that, a pair of trousers… surely it’s just trousers, a pair of pants…huh….? Now socks that’s a different story.
I mention that we had a brilliant area for wardrobe, hair and make-up because it really isn’t always the case. We’ve done make-up out the back of a car on more than one occasion and clothes have been set up in aforrest with hanging sheets for a changing room, so this was luxury.
While the kitchen/changing area was warm and cosy, the pool area was definitely not.
Photographer Lou Mallan offered to help me with the lighting set up, an offer I’m sure she regretted as she stood teeth chattering, hanging on to a lighting stand.
Lou and I skidded around on the tiled floor changing shots and angles for each different outfit. Terri gave Neesha great ‘pool hair’ that worked brilliantly with the concept and Viv’s clothes really popped against the white ceramic.
Neesha as always was fearless and needed very little direction from me. A total pro!
We had a few scary moments carrying a disused lifeguard’spodium into an empty pool but otherwise health and safety was almost adhered to.
We got the shots we were after and finished shooting around 4 o’clock as the light was beginning to fade.
An incredible location and a great team, as usual my job was to just not screw it up!
Check out the shots here.
