Closet Clothing and Spot

Closet Clothing

Last month I was approached by the lovely people at Closet Clothing to shoot their Spring/Summer campaign, after finding out some more about what they were looking for I happily took the job and a few weeks later I found myself awake very early on a Thursday with a giant bag on my way to London where the shoot would be taking place.

Once I arrived in Victoria I made my way to the Notting Hill area where I would be meeting the rest of the team. Our location was the beautiful Portobello Hotel, and the room we were shooting in was apparently where Johnny Depp and Kate Moss had a bath of champagne. Of course now it will be known as the room where I took photos haha... maybe. :P

When I arrived I was introduced to the lovely team behind Closet Clothing, Ruth Elliot and Bryony Friend. The wonderful make-up artist Hannah Serjeant (Instagram). And the beautiful models Daisy and Lola from Nevs.

We were shooting for roughly 8 hours and ended up doing over 30 looks in total! Most of them based in the room but with a few around the hotel and lobby as well as outside too.

Below are a few behind the scenes shots courtesy of Ruth and Bryony. :)

And here are a couple of edits in progress as well as a back of camera preview! 

Keep an eye out for a future post with the final images in, they should be published soon! :)

As a side note, as it turns out I got the job from my profile on The Creative Book! You should definitely check out their website and magazine! :)


Spot

Almost exactly one year ago I did a beauty shoot focusing on make-up, you can see the shoot on my website here and behind the scenes here! At the time I submitted a part of the shoot to a magazine called Eccentric Edge but unfortunately the magazine went through a lot of trouble with technical issue and was put on hols for quite a while. However this week the new issue was published and you can see our images on pages 50-53. You can view the issue here or by clicking the image below! You can also purchase a copy here! :)

Model: Ola @ Leni's Models
Make-up/hair: Angela Amelia
Photographer: Thomas Cole Simmonds

Madeleine

Madeleine

Back in December I had my first shoot with the beautiful Madeleine Uitz in London, you can see the behind the scenes blog post with more details about the day here. I can finally release the images as they they were published on the fantastic website nextdoormodel.com, you can see the shoot over on their website by following this link or clicking the image below!

Here are some more images from the day! And you can see them on my website here too: www.tomsimmonds.com/madeleine

Make sure you follow Madeleine on Instagram by clicking here! :) 

On Jubilee Street

On Jubilee Street

Back in December I had my 2nd to last shoot of the year where I shot for the first time with the beautiful Atma around Buckingham Palace, you can see the behind the scenes blog post with more details about the day here. Earlier this week the images were published on the wonderful blog of Whim Magazine, you can see the post here or by clicking below!

Here are some more images from the day! And you can see them on my website here too: www.tomsimmonds.com/onjubileestreet

You can follow Atma on ModelMayhem here! :)

Summer For A Day

Summer for a Day

A couple of weeks back I had a test shoot with the lovely Katharine Ahern in Brighton before she left to continue her travels, you can see the behind the scenes post from the day here.

These are some of the final images from the shoot!

Be sure follow Katharine on her blog and Instagram! :)

Shoot With Katharine

Shoot With Katharine

Over the past couple of months I had been talking with the wonderful Katharine who had traveled to England for an extended visit and as she was in Brighton I thought it would be crazy not to shoot together. Her leaving date was approaching quickly so we decided to meet up last Sunday and spend the afternoon taking photos!

As luck would have it that Sunday happened to be beautiful! The horrid wind and rain that had made the past weeks incredibly grim totally vanished, clear skies and warm sun prevailed, it felt just like spring!

I met up with Katharine at one of the squares along the seafront between Brighton and Hove. The Regency style buildings there beautiful, and I'm still desperate to shoot inside one of them! We bean to shoot around there then made out way to the seafront. Here are a couple of previews of the shoot!

Katharine originally came over from Adelaide in Australia and as it happened we were shooting at Adelaide Crescent so of course we had to get a snap of the sign, a little bit of home. :P Be sure follow Katharine on her blog (it's really good!) and Instagram! Keep an eye out in a future post for the final images as well as a few shoots that are unpublished from the end of last year! :)

Website Relaunch, Atma and Madeleine and Art Takes Times Square

Website Relaunch

A couple of weeks back in a previous post I re designed my business cards and updated my portfolio, since then I have also been working on my website and I had been waiting for my last two shoots to be published before I announced it properly!

The site now looks completely(ish? haha) different as I'm using a new template design on 4ormat.com. I have streamlined it a bit too, not only are my editorials there but I've also added a portfolio section that reflects the one I have printed, I thought that would be useful. :P

You can check out the new site here! www.tomsimmonds.com

Atma and Madeleine

Last weekend I had two test shoot, one on Saturday with the Atma and the second on Sunday with Madeleine, it had been a while since working with some new people so it was quite refreshing! This time of year is always slow so two tests on one weekend is rare but excellent! :)

I love working on large shoots with a big team but it's really great to get back to basics and just go to on an adventure with a model and shoot wherever we end up! It's great for experimenting and it's always good to be in a situation where you don't know what to expect and having the challenge of getting a great shot. :)

For my shoot with Atma we explored around Buckingham Palace, and with the chosen styling we got a little bit extra attention from the hordes of idiotic tourists, it's like they had never need a woman before, but secretly I was hoping to get a complaint from the police to add to my list of places I've been told off at for shooting haha. Luckily though we were unhindered and were able to get some really cool images, and some that were perhaps a little unusual! :) 

Here is a little back of camera preview!

The next day was my shoot with Madeleine, the weather was a little worse for this one but as we were setting up in Madeleine's place we were able to shoot inside a bit too! We went for a little explore around the Sloane Square area for some images and afterwards we shot a little in and around the apartment. Both of these shoots were cursed by the sunset at 4 problem that you get this time of year so we did a little experimenting with a flash, which is something I barely ever use, and it was fun! Although my flash is older than I am so it is very slow at recharging and kind of ruined the flow a little bit haha.

Here is a little back of camera preview from the day! :)

Art Takes Times Square

Way back in June of 2012 I was part of the See Me - Art Takes Times Square competition and at the time they were offering an art book featuring all of the artists who were featured. So much time had passed since then that I thought it would never arrive but completely out of the blue a huge box arrived in the post last Wednesday and sitting inside was the book! A photo of mine that I took with Stephanie features on page 39, here is a photo of it:

Guise, Xquisit Magazine and Analogue Publication

Guise and Xquisit Magazine

Back in late August I had my third studio shoot, I'm still learning how to use artificial lights but the resulting images have definitely boosted my confidence in the area, this was in no small part due to the fantastic team who I was collaborating with! You can see the behind the scenes blog post from the shoot here.

To my utter delight the images were accepted for submission to the wonderful Xquisit Magazine, and not only was the shoot included it made the cover too! :D You can read the issue by clicking here, or the image below! Our images are on pages 44-51.

Here are some more of the final images! You can see more on my website too at www.tomsimmonds.com/guise

Credits for the shoot are:

Model: Toni Bently @ Leni's Model Management
Make-up/hair/styling: Lydia Pankhurst
Assistant/styling: Lizzy Perry
Photography: Thomas Cole Simmonds
Brands/boutiques/designers: Rouge Pony, RCK+SKLL, Miss Selfridge, New Look, Zara.


Analogue Publication

As in my last post where I showed you the work in progress that was my Skeleton Project publication, this week I decided to put together another one off while I wait for the proof of the last one to arrive.

This time I thought I'd focus on just the analogue images I have taken over the past few years. When I do a shoot, depending on how much time we have I normally shoot a roll or two on film to get another version of the shoot with a different feel. I picked my favourites from my collection and started putting together the pages, here is a little preview.