Holly Stone — Brighton Muse


Back at the start of the year, I was getting a bit stale. Stuck in my ways, tucked away in the studio doing fashion images with the same basic light setup that my space quickly allows.
One evening I was reading through some Petapixel posts, and I came across an article on the importance of Photographic Muse’s and their use to keep our work fresh and inspired.
It was by John Liot, an award winning portrait photographer, currently based in Jersey (the Channel Island and not the district near NYC).
John wrote about the how working with someone over a length of time deepens the story telling of the images, reflected not only in that person’s story but also with the growing relationship between them and the photographer.
To quote the one line that stood out for me:
“After you’ve got a nice prime lens, be sure to get yourself a muse.”
Before I set down the rest of this article, I will quote another section of John’s words. These words strike at the heart of my coinciding desire to work with a “muse” and my concern that the “relationship” is not misunderstood.

“Now let’s bring it to attention now and clarify that calling someone your muse in 2017 is a bit lame, and it’s not something I’m going to bring up in polite conversation because it also sounds a bit clingy and pretentious. But at the same time there’s a reality to what I’m saying and you can associate with what I mean when I mention a muse.”

About the same time, I got the chance to work with some excellent models in the studio. The images that came out were great and a real jump in quality and composition. However, this was mainly down to the person in front of the lens, and not the person behind it. Also, the studio was starting to feel cramped and limiting.
So, I decided to get out and about. The opening of the year was quite nice and as spring sprang I opted to seek a chance to do some Street Fashion. Using the ever available purple port, I made contact with Holly Stone, a young fashion model based in Brighton.
Early on a Saturday morning, I made the trip down to Brighton to meet up with Holly for the first time.
Usually, I would park the car, dash to some coffee house to meet up, and get shooting pretty quickly. That works, except that parking in Brighton requires a 2nd mortgage at the best of times. However, if you arrive at the NCP car park before 8 AM it is only £7 for the whole day, so an early arrival it was.

Brighton on a Saturday morning before 8 is surprisingly quiet, and it was nice to wander the lanes taking graffiti and street images before meeting up with Holly. The bonus was that not only was I warmed up, but I’d also managed to do some location reconnoitre as well.

We met at Silo which is a zero waste restaurant for a spot of breakfast, chatted and then headed out for the image creation.
Holly was simply stunning, well prepared and we found chatting came naturally. The aim was to get gritty fashion shots, and the graffiti all around Brighton made for some great back drops.
We wandered about, the conversation deepened, and we discussed what images we liked and how to achieve them. As we passed across the A23, we spotted an old fashion garage still open and a couple of guys working on some classic vehicles.
Inspiration Struck, and having asked permission we captured a set in an old school workshop. From this point on the images just flowed, and we laid down a huge number of superb photos.




Our 2nd shoot was about a month later, and again it was an early start. Holly had mentioned that she was rose with the sun, so we arranged to shoot at 6 AM alongside Brighton Marina. The tide was out, and the golden hour was there in its full glory.
Again we talked and started to share a little more of life. Our creativity kicked in, and some classic poses flowed.




Our 3rd shoot was a few weeks later, and we discussed doing some more gritty fashion. Having done Graffiti, we decided to see what the walkways around the other side of the Marina had to offer.
Again we fell into a comfortable pace, and the images just came to hand.
I wanted to try out using my 16mm to capture some portraits, as it is a lot wider than I usually shoot in. Holly was game for something that would produce a very different look, and a whole load of wide angle portraits ensured.



As August approaches, we are three shoots down, with another one in the diary. This time it is up onto the South Downs to capture some evening landscape portraits. Another different style and theme.
So, is Holly now my “muse”?
Well, it has been interesting to shoot most months with Holly since Spring. Working regularly with someone has meant that we need to push to get different images. I am not bored of the studio, and as we shoot we chat. We discuss life, its challenges, our hopes, and what we want to eat after all the hard work of being image makers together. Inspiration does strike quite often, and who knows how many more sessions we have in us?
For more images from our shoots, please see the linked photobook:

