Header photo: Images by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

Arran Heys is a part-time photographer with over 10 years of experience based in Nottingham, United Kingdom.

After sharing his shoot (at Studio H Nottingham with model FonicOfficial) with the PurplePort community, Arran generously gave us his time for a quick interview, where he provided details behind the creation of these images, such as the inspirations for the shoot, how it was planned, the camera gear used, and more.

Plus, check out more fabulous images from the photoshoot below!

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

SHARE A SHOOT with photographer Arran Heys

How did you come up with the concept? Did anything inspire you?

There wasn't really any concept as such. I really wanted to work with Francheska (FonicOfficial), and I've followed her work for some time.

I wanted to do something different that captures Francheska's character but also something that she hadn't done before, and from the sheer volume of shoots she's done, that already presented difficulties.

I asked Fran if she had anything on her bucket list, and her answer was, "Snake Shoot is about the only thing I haven't really done", so this set the initial parameters for what we would be doing.

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

Due to the time of year, this had to be a studio shoot (the snake handler had a strict term for indoors only). The output from this was two main themes I wanted to achieve:

#1. Bringing colour, lots of colour to the scene. I've seen many photos before with snakes that often have this dark or Amazon feel about them or in the style of erotic or pinup. Adding a lot of colour gives the viewer a sense of comfort as opposed to danger, which is often (in my view) the strongest thought or opinion that a view has on snakes. 

#2. An alternative gothic look that shows the connection between humans and snakes. These shots are of the snake all over the face and wrapped around the model.

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

What did you do to plan and arrange the shoot?

It was in late 2023 that I decided to take the plunge and finally book a slot with Francheska. I've been following her journey, particularly her work with Paul Lucas Photography (another artist I'm in awe of). I think they make the perfect team when it comes to pulling off a through-and-through project. 

I've always found Francheska incredibly appealing as an artist; how she takes on character after character and expresses this through body movement to tell a story and emotional connection, all captured through a lens, is nothing short of stunning. 

The planning is an interesting part of this shoot, as it almost didn't happen. I initially contacted Francheska in 2023 to plan this shoot, but her diary was swamped at the time. I managed to get a date in January 2024, but a double booking meant pushing it to February, which inspired what would be a bit of a Valentine's Day/Adam-and-Eve-themed shoot. Then, that got rearranged because I couldn't commit, but we finally made it happen on 2nd April 2024.

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

The outfits didn't really take much planning. The bright, colourful vibe is Francheska's daily look, so she could literally turn up in anything from her normal everyday wardrobe, and we would still have amazing results.

I did reach out to an alternative fashion brand to see if a custom snakeskin design was possible, but the turnaround was too tight. Perhaps I'll consider this for a future shoot.

As a photographer with ADHD, planning is definitely not my forte; I often forget things. For this shoot, I did purchase a number of items that I thought might complement the look (things like snake-themed dress jewellery and snake eye contact lenses).

On the day, having seen the awesome makeup that Francheska did, we both decided there was no need for these additional props as they would have made it a little too commercial and branded. This shoot was not intended to be an advertisement or for viewers to feel like we were trying to push a brand or product, so on this occasion, keeping it simple worked well. 

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

I reached out to Luke Smith at SnakeSmiths, a snake-handling provider offering snakes (plus the handler) for hire. They specialise in TV and media work, so that puts you at ease because my first thoughts were, "How will these snakes react to studio lighting and strobes?".

Luke was fantastic with communication. I fired a whole bunch of questions at him, and he was brilliant at putting me at ease. I sent over some images to Fran to pick some snakes, and we got it all booked.

Both me and Fran cannot recommend SnakeSmiths enough. They are so incredibly professional and really know their stuff. Their selection of snakes inspires you to work on some great concepts. 

We initially planned on using two snakes for the shoot: Gus (the green and black snake) and Oreo (a black snake with white stripes). The plan was to co-ordinate the black PVC outfit on the white backdrop utilising the black and white snake. But, as we're all too familiar with the arts and media industry, not everything goes to plan! Unfortunately, Oreo was shedding its skin on shoot day, so we had to rethink.

Our amazing snake handler, Luke (from SnakeSmiths), replaced the snake with a white and yellow snake, which actually turned out to work really well aesthetically by switching up to a yellow backdrop.

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

What was it like shooting at that location?

Studio H Nottingham has only just launched, opening its doors in March 2024, and our shoot was the 5th shoot to take place there.

The studio was perfect. We had a photographer, model, snake handler, and three snakes, and we had plenty of room. It's a 200sqft commercial unit within an industrial estate and is a typical spit and sawdust unit with lots of added love and touches to make it a welcoming, equipped and well-stocked shooting space. 

Due to the time of year, the snakes had to be in a fairly warm room (outdoors is not an option with the current weather), so we banged on a few heaters and got to work. The studio was warm enough for the snakes and was perfectly lit to achieve the results we got from this shoot. 

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

I got some feedback on the studio from Francheska, and whilst she agreed that it's smaller than lots of the commercial studios she's worked in, she really felt that it's the perfect size and well stocked with all the necessities.

In her words, "Sometimes you can feel a little bit lost in some studios with so much space", so all in all, I think the studio was perfect.

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

Tell us about the gear you used.

As mentioned before, I wanted to keep things simple, so this shoot was done on a very basic setup. I'm a big believer that you can push boundaries whilst still capturing amazing work without spending a fortune on equipment.

Image by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

The studio is very well equipped with a whole range of lighting, colourful lights, gels, etc., but none of this for me met the brief. Whilst I agree that techniques like utilising a snoot are great in some situations, we went very simple for this shoot:

  • Camera: My trusty old workhorse, Canon 7D mkii
  • Lens: I stuck with one lens throughout this shoot, which is the Canon 24mm-105mm 
  • Lighting: 2x Godox 160cm honeycomb grid boxes, and 1x 120cm Godox octagon softbox used as a downlight (all lights were connected to 3x Neewer strobes on remote triggers)
  • For most shots, the setting set at: ISO 100, Shutter at 1/1250, and f-stop flicked between 4 & 5 

One thing which I always do whenever possible is tethered shooting. This helped us come together through the shoot as we would switch between sets and gather around the screen to see what changes and ideas everyone had. I cannot recommend this enough to those who really want to have that team effort on a shoot.

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

What's your favourite image from the shoot?

As a photographer who is not fond of over-editing and using too much Photoshop, I have ironically fallen in love with a conceptual art I created from one of the photos. I added lighting and mist to make it a bit edgy and dark. Again, it's simple, but I like it.

Image by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

Ironically, my favourite photo from this shoot is the same image I used for this, too. 

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

Francheska selected her favourite photo as the one where the snake covers her entire face. 

Snake Queen by photographer Arran Heys with model FonicOfficial taken at Studio H Nottingham

Thank you, Arran Heys, for sharing your creativity, experience and images with us. We loved learning all about your photoshoot at Studio H Nottingham with model FonicOfficial!

We hope you all loved it, too. Don't forget to check out the links below to see more of Arran Heys' work!

Here's where you can find more of Arran Heys' work

PurplePort: Arran Heys 

Instagram: Aj_heys_photography

Website: www.ajheys.com 

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