Prom Princess: Double Rainbow

Chapter 4.

Double Rainbow

Not much later, Claire's best friend Bethan arrived in a beautiful dress lined with layers of different coloured material, complemented with a white and silver Venetian mask. Polishing off her prom look she wore silver glittered heals and curled hair pinned to the side leaving the hair to drape over her left shoulder.

Both looking beautiful and both with high excited spirits, looking forward to their evening together, commemorating the end of a very short part of their lives and moving on to begin their next. The best part about it all is they get to share it together, as soul sisters, as best friends just like a double rainbow.

Moments like these are often brushed aside or not celebrated as much as they should be. Proms, Balls, Grades or Graduations are all put in place to cherish, recognise and celebrate our achievements. I'm just so happy that I was able to photograph these stunning ladies before they went off to enjoy their special celebratory evening.

A beautiful end and beautiful beginning!

The End.

Prom Princess: The Sapphire Girl

Chapter 3.

The Sapphire Girl

After many hours of preparations leading up to this special night and the excitement that is clearly visible in these photographs, following. It was time for Claire, so beautifully dressed in a stunning royal blue gown topped off with a frilled short sleeve cardigan, to attend her ball... you could say.

Before her fellow students and chauffeur arrived we had enough time to ease in a small but elegant photo shoot that Claire was so eager to get stuck in to. It was perfect atmospheric wise, with the blue sky, the odd spots of fluffy clouds and a green lawn so perfectly scattered with little white daises. The setting was I guess magic! In all this helped create the right feel, look and effect that was just simply ideal for such an occasional shoot.

Next Chapter.

Prom Princess: Double Rainbow

Prom Princess: The Venetian Mask

Chapter 1.

The Venetian Mask

So most of you will know where this beautiful Venetian mask came from, for those of you who don't know let me tell you. For a start my sister and I are vintage collectors, we love anything old, vintage, classy and out of the ordinary. 

So two years ago during our annual family Butlins holiday, Claire spotted a collection of different and vibrant Venetian Masks hanging in one of the souvenir shops. After having our own little photo shoot, in the corner of the shop, we left. Did she buy it? I hear you say, well you would think so since there is photo evidence just below, but at the time Claire was unsure. You never know if something else will pop up, realising only then you have no money to buy that one thing you really wanted. By the end of the holiday she had spent most of her money, all that was left were a few pound coins that unfortunately didn't add up to the total cost of the Venetian mask. So that was the end of that...

...of course it wasn't. The following year we both had completely forgotten about the masks, we were both focused on our excitement for the week ahead of us. A few days into our holiday, we past that same souvenir shop. I then began to question if they were still selling the Venetian masks that they had the previous year. I grabbed my sister and headed in, scanning the place like forensic scientists looking for DNA evidence. With no results, we began making our way towards the shop doors when I saw something red and white out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I walked towards the object. There, hanging from a small shelf, hung several Venetian masks. Even though it had taken a year to decide Claire finally bought the blue Venetian mask she had previously wanted. 

A year later, ending her final year in secondary/high school. It was coming up to that time of year when all girls start planning and mums start spending. Though most girls go for the highly expensive dresses and accessories around, whilst our family prefer looking the part at half the price or even less. Now my sister isn't the type of girl who thinks that her prom night is going to be the best day of her life and frankly when I was her age I didn't either. But nonetheless if your going to attend your high school prom, you want to look your best, even if it means you have to wear a dress. But of course just like any prom there is the task of finding the 'Perfect' dress first. But that's another story!

Next Chapter.

Prom Princess: The Princess's Boutonniere 

'Prom Princess' Update!

For the upcoming post titled 'Prom Princess' I have decided to split the shoot into sections/chapters/posts which ever you prefer to call them. I am doing this purely on the bases that there are so many photos that cover each area and feature of the shoot, so to put them into one post would be just to much. So as a final sneak peek, I have collected 3 images, for each of the chapters. Enjoy!

Join The Mask, The Dress and The Boutonnaire

in

Prom Princess

~ The Final Sneak Peek ~

Coming Soon!

The Princess

Claire Johnson as the princess

in

Prom Princess

~ Sneak Peek 4 ~

Coming Soon!

Return of the Mask!

The Venetian Mask is back in the...

Prom Princess

~ Sneak Peek ~

Coming Soon!

Elements Of Colour!

At the time, I never even thought of the endless possibilities and enjoyment that these shots would give me. I literally could have gone on for hours so don't be surprised if I ever come back with a new version of this image. Yes again it's my sister modelling the beautiful Venetian Mask. This time removing the colour and making white the main tone to the image. Then with each photo, adding a little something to make each one individual.

Red: 
Negatives: Sin, Guilt, Pain, Blood and Anger
Positives: Passion, Love, Devotion, Compassion and Courage

Blue: 

Negatives: Shallow, Cold, Sadness, Depressed and Dreary  

Positives:  Peace, Calm, Friendly, Pure and Tranquillity

Purple:

Negatives: Mourning, Toxic, Scarce, Stress and anxiety 

Positives: Royalty, Dignity, Noble, Delicacy and Wise

Just thought I'd mention that these photos alone, took me a grand total of 6 hours and 30 minutes to complete. Making sure the quality of each image were balanced out, to complement the other.

Venetian Mask Beauty

As a start to my Butlins posts. I thought I'd single these shots out, as they have come to be a phew of my favourite images. At the time I wasn't really in the mood of taking these photos as we had just arrived on the resort campus and was tired from travelling. But Claire just looked so stunning in the Venetian Masks that were being sold in one of the stores, that after much consideration over whether to take the shots something hit me and my photography urge kicked in.

Here is an example of the steps that my images go through, minus the original image. As I spoke in a previous post on this photo I was looking for a spooky effect. Using a sepia tone added with the seemingly ghostly radial blur, then finally adding a texture that introduces an old fashioned feel. 

Was heading for a Moonlight/House Of Night effect on this photo. For those of you who are not familiar with either, Moonlight is an american vampire TV series and House Of Night is a teens book series.

This time going with the similar effects as the first image but with a splash of colour.

 Removing colour to the background and singling out the eye features I try to capture the main centre and outline of her eye. Then adding swirls, a mix of colours and a focus blur I think it works just right.