Beauty and the Beast? She's both.

What better way to spend your Sunday that to go to your local parish and turn beauty into a beast?

The idea for yesterday's Grotesque shoot was to tell the story of a descent into madness of beautiful Music Hall entertainer. The madness is represented by the extreme make-up, flowers and the jewellery as well as the darkening mood of the images themselves.

This image is a pre-production still of the story which I've included as a taster. Post-production on the story book has started and I'm looking to complete in a few weeks.

Art, like life, cannot be done alone and I want to thank some great friends for helping with the shoot. Sanchia (www.finlaymakeup.co.uk) for the make-up, Jan (www.daisychaingloucester.co.uk) for the flowers, Selinna (www.alissia-couture.co.uk) for the corsets and Teresa (www.jewellerybyteresa.com) for the jewellery. Oh, and Gary for his shoelace. You really are all the very best.

My final thanks go to Jess for being the star of the shoot. Jess' experience from stage school mixed with her own special blend of craziness really made this shoot special. She knew very little of the story I wanted to tell until the morning of the shoot which I think made her performance even more outstanding. This was only surpassed by her patience and ability to breath while wearing a very tight corset.

If you are interested in doing your own Grotesque shoot and have an idea for a story you would like to tell then please feel free to email me at david@davidgow.co.uk.

Please keep checking the blog for updates on the storybook release date.

Martin and Michelle are Maxed out

The aim of any pre-wedding shoot is to put the future man and wife at ease in front of the camera and to get an idea of shots for the wedding. No-one explained this to Max.

In the short shoot most of the images involved Max pulling a wheelie on his trike and scaling his mountainous climbing frame. My favourite shots, however, were ones like this were he paused and looked as pensive as a man 60 years older. Very disconcerting and even more compelling to record.

Martin and Michelle, as proud parents, involved Max in the shoot and we finished with some fantastic shots of the three of them enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning.

With only 4 weeks to go until the wedding I know Martin, Michelle and Max are going to be as much fun as they were today and it will be a real pleasure to capture their special day on film.