Kristelle

‘You have to shoot with Kristelle! Really, I don’t know why you’ve not worked with her already…’ so began the latest conversation with Lucy… Lucy’s been suggesting I shoot with Kristelle for a while, but we’d never managed to get a date that could work for us both. Finally, one rainy day late last year, we both managed to be free. 

I was apprehensive-I’ve admired Kristelle’s work for a very long time, and she’s definitely got a unique style. Whilst most well known for her pinup work, there’s a certain edginess, and uniqueness around Kristelles latest images. And, she’s worked with some incredibly talented photographers recently, photographs like Magic Owen, and Nicole Klein, two photographers who’s work I have a very high degree of regard for. It’s both daunting and energising to work with a model who’s clearly at the top of their game, and my big concern on the day was, would I be able to match the quality of the work which Kristelle has been turning out with other photographers. I set up a mood board with work by Ellen Von Unwerth, Helmut Newton, George Holz and the like. Definitely a stretch as far as my talent and resources go, but might as well be inspired by the best, I reckon. Aim for the stars, and you might reach the moon, I guess. Or something. Anyway…

We were to shoot at Kristelle’s home studio, aka The Pinup Farm, which is, you won’t be surprised to hear, is a farmhouse, decked out in the most glorious retro style you could possibly imagine. There’s a multitude of shooting locations to use, but we actually ended up predominantly using a couple of the locations-the small home studio, and the spare bedroom, rich in natural light. Whilst the spare bedroom is done out as a stylish retro setup, we pretty much buried that underneath two huge fake fur fabric throws. I love this kind of fabric-it makes a fantastic background to images-the texture in particular always adding a richness and depth that you struggle to get with ‘normal’ backdrops. 

I don’t think you’d qualify any of the images we shot as pinup, by a long stretch, but I know that I’m very happy with what we achieved. Both Kristelle and myself were looking to do something a little bit edgier than our usual, and whilst I wouldn’t suggest that the images are edgy my everyone’s definition, certainly, they were different from what I would normally do. And, as ever, having an experienced model who’s able to model without needing too much direction, and a very clear idea of the images she wants to come away from the shoot with makes for an enjoyable and mutually productive shoot. 

We shot a good few different things in the short time we had available to us, and I’m sure I’ll be adding to this gallery as time progresses, and more images from the shoot are finished up. I’m already looking forward to the opportunity to shoot with Kristelle again-still so many great images to be created with her.