Elle in association with GHD
I recently attended the GHD x Elle magazine sponsored event ‘The live shoot’ held at Protein studios, East london for avid fashionistas, stylists, bloggers and Elle insiders which I must say, was such an amazing day!
The GHD live shoot was truly live all day, lasted about 7 hours long, and was broadcast live on one of the main billboards in Picadilly Circus, for anyone interested while shopping to check it out.
On arrival, myself and my friend were welcomed by some of the Elle coordinators who briefed us on what was in store for the full day of pampering, treats and photography. I thought it would be great as an amateur photographer to see how this magazine shoot with three models differed from a commercial portfolio shoot with one model at a time, in terms of the pace at which the photos are taken, angles and styling. As I was there with a plus one, it wasnt’t ‘all work, no play’ of course…
Lighting is key
As I was there to pick up some tips from Kal, hairstylist and creative director Kenna and his team by being up close and personal with the team, I tried to take note of the lighting setting, the angles used for softening of the face versus defining bone structure, the best settings used for showing different hair colours in the best light (literally) and the how the raw results looked before any editing additional editing.
I picked up some great lighting tips by practising with my own camera while I was there, as well as styling tips from networking with the other guests at the event.
What I enjoyed about the all-day shoot is that while the three models were getting photographed in terms in one area, the majority of the event catered to making sure the guests were never bored and always pampered. Throughout the shoot, we enjoyed getting our hair styled using the latest GHD products and gadgets with free tips tailored to your hair, festival tattoos and manicures, the Elle Instagram photo area, an open café to rejuvenate between all the pampering sessions and of course, a take home ‘care package’ as a thank you for being one of the first to try out the new GHD styler.
The shoot was then featured in the current August edition of Elle magazine, and many guests were also featured on GHD and Elle’s social media channels.
Overall, I thought the live shoot was well executed, the shoot itself was a success with photographer Kal Griffig at the helm and the models delivered while maintaining their fresh fasces and silky for the day.
Kal was able to get some great commercial shots ready for publishing in the August edition at Elle. As seen below, all three models showed off the GHD results perfectly!
Cary x
