The Hepworth Shoot - Behind The Scenes
Victoria Farr working her magic on Gabi just before we started shooting.
Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a Rolling In Roses shoot? Well today you get to see a glimpse of madness behind the lense, as captured by the power duo Zach & Grace It’s easy to think that shoots are a day of fun, selecting a few gowns, picking some areas to shoot and bobs your uncle, well my goodness if only it was that simple! Super human Hayley our founder and designer at Rolling In Roses decided 4 months into her maternity leave that she would love to do a collection image refresh, these are important as consumers and in particular brides-to-be are image thirsty and always looking for inspiration. It’s also important to us that we capture the dresses on different body shapes and skin tones, we want every bride to know that Rolling In Roses is open to them.
So lets rewind a little and start at the beginning. As this wasn’t a new collection shoot the pressure was off a little bit, we already have amazing imagery of all of the pieces shot but we just wanted some new varied imagery, we compiled a wishlist of pieces we would love to shoot and spoke to Ellis and decided what to sample/amend and then ultimately what to take, this came first as it then informs sizes for the models. Model selection is hard as a model can look different in every headshot and it’s why they are so good at their job but it makes the selecting impossible, it’s always a risk but we really lucked out with Liv and Gabi (aside from train disasters that only mother nature was to blame for) We knew we wanted a clean space to shoot in and galleries were top of the list, we thought about the Hepworth and almost dismissed it as we didn’t think they would let us shoot but they did and we were so thrilled about it! It was such a dream to shoot there having been huge Barbara Hepworth fans and the natural light flowing in from the windows meant no matter the weather the elements wouldn’t affect the light or the shoot too much, which is something we really have to consider when picking a location, especially in winter.
Rebecca trying to capture some candid shots for social without giving everything away on the day (this took a lot of restraint)
We then reached out to Zach and Grace, Fiona Pickles and Victoria Farr to check their availability. We ended up shooting 7 weeks after we started organising as to get all of the team, models and the venue to be free on the same date is a logistical nightmare but it worked out perfectly in the end. Hayley briefed Fiona who is so incredibly talented and brought along some beautiful floral artistry, displayed on a plinth that looked so perfect against the Hepworth sculptures, and then we pulled together a call sheet for all participants including the models, that laid out the aesthetic for the day, poses, make up, crops and then some inspiration imagery.
Once we have everything creative set it’s time for logistics. We make a list of things to take which no matter where or how many times we shoot, is an enormous amount of props to carry around and includes; rails, steamer, hangers, clips, cleaning liquid, irons, boards, pins, changing screen, underwear, water, tea, mugs, snacks, lunch, jewellry, call sheets and so much more! Planning is key to how smooth a shoot goes, if everyone knows what they are doing when they arrive it’s much more productive and means the shoot itself although exhausting is an absolute dream, and the end result is some beautiful imagery. We wouldn’t be able to shoot this smoothly without having some absolute disasters in the past (including things setting on fire!) and the amazing team we get to shoot with. I hope you have enjoyed these images, it’s nice to look back and reflect on the day, as at the time it’s a little chaotic, thanks for capturing these for us Zach/Grace.
