This project had been on my mind for a long time. All I had to do was to find the team and finalise it. The idea started with the image of a clown putting on his makeup and being entitled ‘You don’t have to put a happy face on’. This then developed into various other ideas to highlight and raise awareness of mental health issues. There are many people out there struggling with mental health, which is why I wanted to create something like this. One of the first things I did was find the models. I asked Jo and Beu from Nottingham to join us on the shoot and they didn’t hesitate in saying yes. I then chose Rose, as she has worked with me several times before on various projects. Although she isn’t a makeup artist, her body painting and airbrushing too is outstanding and would definitely fit in with the shoot. I also spoke to Laura, another talented lady, who is also great makeup and hair artist. Rose decided to work on a male clown look which was intended to "mimic the legendary Emmett Kelly, the famous clown, whose look was inspired by the American hobos of the depression era"(by Rose Croft), and Laura chose a more ‘perfect’ makeup compared to Beu, jester looking clown, "to represent the idea of the media pressure for a woman to adhere to a certain standard"(By Laura Williams). I now needed a designer. Who else would I call on but Tracey Cooke from Cookie Couture. She came along with a beautiful corset and bottoms for our female jester clown. I then thought it would be great to add another photographer to the project. That would give us another pair of creative eyes to see the shoot from a different angle. I asked Tom, who is a super talented photographer to join our project. What surprised me was that it normally takes days to build the right team and find a mutual date for the shoot but this was all done in one day. The team brainstormed ideas and inspirations for weeks before the shoot but we still didn’t have a location. With the shoot looming, we found a small pub in the town centre and thanks to their owners we were allowed to use the downstairs storage area. It was perfect, with an old sofa, a few chairs, and an old pool table, a guitar and many more great props. I couldn’t have asked for a better location. On the day, after all the makeup and body painting was done, we arrived at the pub to start the day’s session. We shot with Jo and Beu,using mainly a couple of cheap, Yongnuo speedlights and some reflectors, creating what you see. I also ventured out and took some shots with my clowns out on the high street and in the pub itself.
It was a great fun-filled day working with a fabulous team of creatives and, looking at the images from both me and Tom, it seems we have achieved some good results. Our shoot was successfully published in Photoshoot Magazine where you can see more photos from both of myself and Tom.
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