Hello hello!

So this photo below is honestly one of my favourites that I’ve ever taken…

I absolutely love the lighting of this shot, the skin of both models looks great, and I love the texture of the blond model’s skin… but the thing that I love most about this photo is that it should never have happened.

One of the things that I really liked about being a photographer was the organisation of it all. One photographer told me when I was starting out that only 10% is actual photography… the other 90% is the logistics and administration… and I honestly loved all of that.

I loved talking to creative people about creative things, I loved the raw enthusiasm and working with people that I would never normally work with. My day job is in IT Security, which is about as dry as it sounds… and photography is almost the exact opposite to it in every way, shape and form.

Cat (the blond model) arrived at my photographic studio at 1pm on a Sunday. My studio was hard to find, so most of the time I’d get phone calls in the minutes leading up to a creatives arrival of lost people… and I’d get very good at darting out and sprinting around the block until I found my partner in creative crime. On the biggest shoots I’d have to do that a few times a session… part of the problem would be that people are terrible at remembering instructions, and part is that some GPS systems put my studio a couple of blocks away.

Anyway, Cat arrived without any drama, and an hour early, which was also super rare but happened occasionally especially when people were traveling some distance to shoot.

At that point I had studied makeup (I wasn’t great at it, but I had too many no-show makeup artists so I decided to literally take matters into my own hands) and was getting Cat ready for the shoot. She was so super chill… most models are excited or nervous, and she was so incredibly calm, it was great.

At 2pm there was a knock on the door… I wasn’t expecting anyone, but sometimes salespeople or charity people found the place, so I quickly popped down to get rid of them, and opened the door to a young lady who said “Hi, I’m Cat, so nice to meet you finally.”

I was confused.

I explained to Cat 2 that I had another model here already, and she was cool so I took them to meet each other and the conversation went:

“Hi, I’m Cat, nice to meet you.”

“Hi, I’m Elise, nice to meet you.”

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…… whoops.

I had organised Elise for a project I had been thinking about weeks beforehand, and then promptly forgot about it. No idea why it wasn’t in my calendar… but these things happen. Cat had organised a portfolio shoot with me earlier in the week, and because there was nothing in my calendar I accepted. I usually confirm and double confirm with all creatives beforehand, which I did with Cat, but not with Elise, but Elise turned up anyway, perfectly on time and ready to shoot… and that’s because I had shot with her before!

I had taken these shots ages earlier when I was just starting out.

Obviously Cat the paying model took priority over Elise the personal-project model, so I explained my whoopsie and apologized to them both. Cat, however, had other ideas…

Let’s shoot together

The Real Cat had never worked with another model before and was excited for the experience, and Elise was a total professional who could always use more great shots for her portfolio.

They worked together to style themselves for a great shot, and we got what we got.

Elise left a little bit after and we got Cat the portfolio shots she needed… but everyone loved the above shot so much. My best organisational accidental shot ever.

Thanks for reading! Hit me up on the Twitters if you like to chat about photographies.