We were a group of early birds on Monday for our collaborative shoot at boutique bowling alley, Lane 7. After Ellen, Kitty and I met up with Maxine at 7.20am, we headed to F6.Studios to get Kitty all dolled up. The make-up artist we were originally going to work with, Summer Rayne, was unfortunately unable to make the date so we contacted the lovely Maxine Ayre who very generously stepped in at short notice, despite a late night working and having to hire a childminder!
For the hair and make-up for the shoot, we all shared a few ideas before agreeing on a monochrome eye and orange lip, keeping with recent beauty trends and enhancing Kitty's dazzling blue eyes. Maxine has a make-up kit to die for, a suitcase jam-packed with high-pigmented powders and creams in all shades, enabling her to create a wide variety of looks. Her 16 years of experience in the industry has meant that she has perfected her skills to a very high standard, so much that she now also loves to create stunning life-like portraits using only make-up in her spare time! Unfortunately, our male model Koshy couldn't make it due to illness which was a massive shame, but we still managed to get some brilliant shots of Kitty.
For the hair and make-up for the shoot, we all shared a few ideas before agreeing on a monochrome eye and orange lip, keeping with recent beauty trends and enhancing Kitty's dazzling blue eyes. Maxine has a make-up kit to die for, a suitcase jam-packed with high-pigmented powders and creams in all shades, enabling her to create a wide variety of looks. Her 16 years of experience in the industry has meant that she has perfected her skills to a very high standard, so much that she now also loves to create stunning life-like portraits using only make-up in her spare time! Unfortunately, our male model Koshy couldn't make it due to illness which was a massive shame, but we still managed to get some brilliant shots of Kitty.
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| Maxine applying Kitty's 'mod eyes' |
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| Maxine styling Kitty's hair |
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| Kitty's perfect 'selfie' en route to Lane 7 |
After dashing about to find a parking space, we eventually made it to the venue at around 10am, where in perfect timing we arrived at the same time as Thushara, editor of Darkus magazine! We were kindly welcomed in by Chrissie, Lane 7's 'Events Extraordinaire', who allowed us to use pretty much anything that we needed in the venue, which was fantastic, as there were so many amazing props that worked perfectly with the theme of our shoot!
We started out on the freshly polished bowling alleys, taking care not to step on the actual lanes as to not slip and injure ourselves or mess up the hard work of the men who had just polished them. Starting on the ground floor next to the giant windows, we were highly amused to see the men on their way to work, stuck in rush hour and unable to take their eyes away from the set! Far from the sweet, almost shy girl that I first met, Kitty completely blossomed in front of the camera, becoming this bold, commanding and playful character, effortlessly switching poses and having fun with the different props on set, and she was amazing to watch.
For the styling of the shoot, we kept the look quite minimal in that it worked around a monochrome appearance with flashes of subtle colour. With the cropped striped top (we loved the neckline on this!) and pastel cigarette pants, we found the pink 'Victoria' collar complimented the outfit well, as did the 'Cupid' collar paired with the reversible cuffs. The '8 ball' was the perfect prop, and the sophisticated, minimalist appearance of the alleys at Lane 7 was the perfect backdrop!
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| Ellen shooting Kitty with '8 ball' |
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| Behind the behind the scenes with Darkus magazine |
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| Switching accessories mid-shoot |
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| Bowling balls |
As time was passing fast, we decided to head down to the Basement after a few shots on the bowling lanes. The Basement currently has an amazing temporary miniature golf course, and the floor is covered in chunky monochrome chevrons, again working perfectly with our theme! We changed Kitty's outfit into a more simple, monochrome look to compliment the patterned, more bold accessories. The leopard fur 'Dusty' collar looked amazing with the simple cream vest we styled it with, and wasn't too overpowering with the gingham mini-skirt as they were set quite far from each other. We decided to leave the cuffs on as they worked well with the outfit and reversed to the black side, are quite understated and will work with most garments and accessories! The vintage handbag is actually my Auntie June's, which she gave to me a few years back. It was lovely to be able to use it in a shoot and mix in something vintage and quite personal with new clothes and my accessories, and it also matched the chunky white heels brilliantly. We later reversed the cuffs to the gingham side to match the gingham 'Dusty' collar, to show off the collar and cuffs as a matching set, which has a more tailored appearance.
When we arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Ellen was drawn towards the neon lights, so we grabbed a few shots in front of the 'Ballroom' sign before going into miniature golf. I love the industrial club feel of these shots, as they lend a completely new dimension to the shoot and somehow makes the outfit appear very glamorous rather than very slick and minimalist as it appears in a different setting.
After playing around with poses with the golf clubs and letting Kitty stretch her legs after being crammed inside a loop, we dashed upstairs with only 10 minutes left of our time we booked in, before Lane 7 opened to the public. We immediately spotted the amazing retro hairdressers chairs as we walked in, which we used as a set before squeezing a few more on the table next to the other bowling alleys. We encountered a new challenge when Ellen's new trigger broke, meaning the flash couldn't be used, but luckily it was a sunny morning and she was great at using the natural light to her advantage.
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| Ellen shooting Kitty in the Basement |
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| Sneaky pic I took of Kitty in hairdressers chair |
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| Ellen shooting Kitty in hairdressers chair |
Knowing that our time was up (we probably stayed a little longer than we should have), we moved the shoot to outside behind the venue to get some street shots. Luckily the sun was still shining and we had a pair of fantastic retro-style sunglasses for Kitty to wear, so we took some pictures of her in her final outfit, which included a powder-blue shift dress from Asos and a faux leopard fur 'sleeve accessory' I had a sampled. The accessory looked fantastic layered over the dress with its turn-up sleeves with black cotton lining, and the shoulder pads added a bit more drama than the collar and cuff accessories. Eventually when all the shots were done, and we were all dying for something to eat having failed miserably at attempting to cook some croissants earlier in the studios, Ellen, Kitty and I bid farewell to Maxine and Thushara and headed straight to Ninety-Nine for some fresh burgers and pasta.
Yesterday Ellen gave us a sneaky peek of one of the pictures she has edited from the shoot, and although we aren't able to share it yet, it does look amazing!! I can't wait to see our feature in fantastic local magazine Darkus, which will be an issue focusing on local designers so it's an exciting time!
I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to take part in this wonderful collaboration, and would like to thank everyone involved for their time and effort. Here are some links to find out more about these talented people and one of Newcastle's most exciting venues:
Ellen Rachel:
Website: http://www.ellenrachelwaite.com
Kitty Quinzell:
Purple port: http://purpleport.com/portfolio/kittyquinzell/
Maximillion Makeup and Hair:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaxineMuaHair
Instagram: http://instagram.com/maximillionmakeup
Darkus Magazine:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DarkusOfficial
Lane 7:
Website: http://lane7.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lane7Newcastle
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lane7Newcastle
Image credits to Kitty Quinzell (selfie!) and Ellen Waite (me switching accessories)
Melanie xx
