I'm only in Japan for 3 weeks, but even with a crammed schedule I couldn't leave without doing a shoot! Miku my assistant did wonders finding and arranging a shoot with Yuri, a model from Kyoto, newly signed to a Tokyo agency. Yuri is stunning! She strays away from the generic Japanese fashion culture and is confident enough to be herself, with a starkly different dress sense and short blonde hair which suits her perfectly! So during our trip inter-railing across Japan, we travelled to her home town and did two shoots with her, one at the MASSIVE Kyoto station, and one out and about.
We always have shots within a shoot which we like but they don't quite make it to the final set. Above is a good example!
Yuri is a genuinely really nice girl :) My Japanese isn't great, but through body language and knowing the odd word here and there, and Miku providing translations when we just look plain confused, we were able to communicate well enough for her to relax and be herself :) In the end we all really enjoyed it! She has a really radiant smile, kawaii!!!!
It's nice to be taking behind the scenes photos so people can see what my shoots are really like. Thanks to Miku for stalking us with her camera and taking photos that show what's really happening!! All the photos below are hers. Also, I really want to thank her for all the work shes putting into everything. People may think I just say she's my assistant because she's my girlfriend, that's not the case!
She arranges photo shoots, translates, she take photos behind the scenes, talks the models and makes them feels comfortable, is learning creative makeup, holds the reflector to bounce better light onto the models, she does a hell of a lot! I think the fact we've just done an international shoot, a different country with a foreign model, no link to the UK at all, is really testament to the amount of work she puts in. Thank you Miku!! :D
Check out me using my camera upside down like a pro :P There was a reason for it, I wasn't just being weird, I needed the lens closer to the concrete so it went reflective.
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And finally, here we have a sneak peek at our second shoot with Yuri. This is my favourite shot so far, but I haven't been through all the photos yet so I'm sure the set is going to be great :D Stay tunes for the full shoot in the next couple of days!
