Studio shoot with Model Tink Kaos
I recently photographed a star of the UK modelling scene, Tink Kaos at The Boardroom Studio in Derby.
Tink had been on my radar for a while - she has an incredibly unique look and has done some very daring work during her career. You just have to visit her Instagram page to see what I mean. So when Phil at The Boardroom alerted me to her up-coming visit, I was keen to get on that train! I was happy she wanted to work with me as I am a bit more of a reserved shooter compared to her usual work.
What really drew me to her was her very real lifestyle of paganism and spirituality. She actively lives that life, and I love photographing interesting, real people, and trying to bring their soul to a picture. It was fascinating to talk to her about it all and to be honest I wish I had more time to have done so. I think we spent a good 40 minutes just chatting. But that's never a bad thing in photography. The repore and familiarity between a photographer and sitter is very important, whether its a model or a paying client.
During our shoot, she changed into 3 or 4 outfits to create different vibes and styles, and very imaginatively wrapped herself in a sheet of golden see-through fabric at one stage which also worked really well.
She was full of creative ideas. Models typically know what they are doing - it's one reason I like working with them. And whilst I play my part in every photograph I take, I do find that if you allow them to be themselves, and allow them to add their input, the value is better. It often surprises me how much photographers "tell" models what to do - and whilst I do my share of "chin up a little, bend wrist a little", it is almost always after allowing them to do their thing first, and then I just tweak a touch to ensure the light falls right. It was quite funny because those of you who have experience of shooting with medium format cameras will know that after each shot, the viewfinder goes blank until you wind the crank which can take a second or two. And it would always scare me after the wind and the viewfinder becomes visible again to see her in the viewfinder full size with a different and often quite scary expression! Very little direction was ever needed with Tink. Honestly, it will be a shoot for me to remember. I hope I will get to work with her again one day.
Below is a handful of my favourites from the 6 rolls of Kodak Tri-X 400 that I shot with her. I hardly binned any, and I still struggle to choose a favourite.
