• Bridal shoot at Althorp House for Image Magazine

• 19 September 2011 by Matt Edwards 4 Comments

I was recently asked to shoot the wedding feature for Image magazine in Northampton. I have worked with them before on a cover image for their face of Northampton competition so know the editor Ruth and together with my make-up artist Donna Grant from Beauty Angels, we were given free rein to go out and devise the shoot. Great, but also a little daunting at first. This blog entry is really to show the results of this shoot and to give you a little more insight into the process behind the shoot. I have also included links to the poeple I worked with at the end of this article.

Initially we were going to approach a couple of local bridal galleries and see if they were prepared to loan us the dresses in return for being featured in the magazine. However Ruth had put us in touch with a local designer Martin Charles who had a range of bespoke dresses which Image magazine was keen to feature. We had been keen to come up with something slightly different to the usual wedding shoot and using Martins dresses was a great way to achieve this. Despite appealing to a slightly smaller audience it was a great way for Image magazine to show something different to its competition but also provide Martin with some fantastic publicity as he was also due to open a new bridal gallery.

Now all we really needed was a venue suitable for showcasing Martins dresses. We looked at all the usual venues in the area but I really wanted to shoot at Althorp house, the family home of the Spencer family. It is a beautiful house and a significant part of the Northamptonshire landscape and coupled with this Image magazine had not shot there before. I contacted their press office and was amazed that they were prepared to listen to our ideas. We had no budget for the shoot, none of us were being paid and we were reliant on the good will of everyone involved. Althorp house were brilliant and after signing there non-disclosure agreements (and upping my public liability from 1 to 5 million pounds) they gave us access to the house for a day to do the shoot.

For the models I approached RMG Models with our idea. We knew that disaster aside, we already had publication of the shoot agreed so we asked if any models were prepared to give their time for the shoot in return for their images and tear sheets. RMG were particularly helpful and after a couple of days had a list of potential models that were happy to work with us that we could choose from. They are a great agency with great models on their books and it meant we could guarantee professional results both in terms of images but also from the models. I’ve worked with models in return for images before and it can be hit a miss in terms of the quality and professionalism you get on the day.

As for the shoot itself, it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t a little apprehensive. The house is steeped in history but is still a family home. So you are surrounded not only by valuable antiques but also family heirlooms, irreplaceable as such. The last thing I wanted was a claim against my newly increased public liability. But the staff were great and we soon felt at home. Donna was assigned one of the bedrooms to use as the make-up and changing room while I went to various parts of the house to plan the shots. We had a full day, which on the surface seemed plenty, but with 3 models, each with 2 -3 dresses and looks, we knew time would soon get away from us. As is often the case with these shoots I stand around waiting for the models to get ready then get 20 or so frames before hanging around for the next. The shots are all a mixture of ambient light and Bowens flash and shot on a Canon 5d.

All in all I am pretty pleased with the results, as were all involved. When I was first asked to shoot for the magazine I expected to just have to go along and shoot. For Image magazine to leave us to produce the whole shoot showed great trust which I am very grateful for. We are just looking at the next project now.

Martin charles can be found at the Martin Charles Bridal Gallery in Oundle

Donna Grant at Beauty Angels professional hair and make up

All the models were from RMG Models

Images were shot at Althorp House Estate

Published in Image Magazine Northampton

Thanks for reading

Matt

242 days ago by Matt Edwards in Focus Gallery, Photography | You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site