In one of my better shoots in a while for this blog, the shoot I done for H&M’s Conscious Exclusive at Kew Gardens, I thought I’d show you the inspiration for the concept and how I came about styling and executing this shoot.
It all started with an obsession I’ve had with Kew Gardens since I moved to London. I always wanted to shoot in their tropical house, but it’s something that I just couldn’t pull off on my own. Secondly my love for the tropics is given quite a bit of coverage on this blog, and thirdly, how do you shoot in such a rich environment? Well the ideas I had with how I wanted the shots to be set up and the images should look were inspired by the fashion shoots I’ve listed below. The emphasis of the shoot has always been on the white Victorian spiral staircase leading up to the upper levels and the beautiful exotic vegetation growing inside.
As for the styling of the shoot; that one was something that only came together in the last few days before the shoot. Trying to do full-on ball gowns in the height of spring is a little hard to do as no stores stock them now, and you can’t use too many prints as it would overpower the shoot or get lost in the palm leaves. I literally received an email a couple of days before the Conscious Exclusive collection launched in stores and when I previewed the collection online, the red dress just stood out and it seemed to fit perfectly with my vision. Thankfully, with these great shoots everything came together at the last minute.
