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SHARE A SHOOT: Mike Lyne's Shoot with Amie Boulton at Trident Studio

Header photo: Images by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton taken at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Mike Lyne is a hobbyist photographer based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, with 13 years of experience.

After sharing his shoot (featuring model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]) with the PurplePort community, Mike generously gave us his time for a quick interview, where he shared how these fabulous images were created, the inspirations behind the shoot, how it was planned, the camera gear he used, and much more.

SHARE A SHOOT with photographer Mike Lyne

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

Thank you, Penelope, for asking about this shoot. I enjoyed it, especially working with Amie again. She is such a pleasure to work with. Also, Trident Studio with Chris Conway is just excellent. I can fully recommend them all.

After doing five shoots with Amie over 2 years, it’s a pleasure to work with her – she is an ultimate professional and very easy to work with. When it comes to posing, she is an automaton – camera clicks, she changes her pose almost instantly. She just keeps moving. Love it!!

This particular shoot was to have been a four-hour joint shoot with a photographer friend called Steve. He wanted to try model photography but sadly had to bail out the day before due to medical reasons.

We had each planned our own concepts, but Steve had just two concepts that he wanted to do: one was a recreation of the iconic Christine Keeler chair photograph from the early 1960s after her involvement in the scandal of the Profumo Affair.

At the time, the photo created was intended to be a publicity shot for a film about the downfall and resignation of a Government Cabinet Minister due to the affair. However, the film was not made until 1989 but did score 6.4 out of 10 on IMDB. If you don’t know about the Profumo affair, then Google it!

The studio did not have an identical chair to the original (it’s in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London), but we found one that was a close(ish!) match and gave me the photo that I wanted.

What did you do to plan the shoot?

The idea was that we would each go first for ‘our’ chosen concept, and the other would then take over for their time slice with Amie for that same concept.

The plan was very much to ensure Amie was only directing her attention to just one photographer. The other one acted as a ‘helper’ if necessary, and so did not direct Amie or distract her attention.

Steve and I started planning the session by discussing what concepts we each wanted and putting them into a simple table in Microsoft Word like this:

This worked well, and we bounced the document back and forth between us quite a few times, refining it and adding more notes and ideas until we had nine solid concepts.

We then decided the priority for each concept to ensure if we ran out of time, we had not ‘lost’ an important concept that we really wanted to do. We alternated whose concept we did, so we each had equal time with Amie due to splitting the costs 50/50.

How did you arrange the shoot?

First of all, I messaged Amie (through PurplePort, as I recognise and fully support the safety advantages that the Admin oversight of the PurplePort system gives) and found out what dates she was free. We picked a date all three of us could work to, confirmed the costs, and made the booking with Amie at Trident Studio in Plymouth.

I emailed our ‘mood board’ to Amie a week before the shoot so she could see what outfits she could bring to match the ideas/visions we had.

She suggested leaving the RGB Laser shoot until last as that required ‘misting’ up the studio to ensure the laser beams showed up clearly, and the room would need to have the mist cleared if we had another concept afterwards. We obviously agreed with Amie’s recommendation.

What was it like shooting at that location?

I used to live in Warrington in Cheshire, and there were a lot of studios around there (Manchester, Liverpool, Runcorn, Chester), but after moving to mid-Cornwall in December 2019, I realised that Cornwall is not well placed for studios.

I managed to fit in two shoots initially (one outdoors in Falmouth and the other one in the house of a model’s friend), but then the COVID-19 lockdown came into operation on Monday, 23rd March 2020, and that shut everything down for several months.

The Trident Studio in Plymouth is the best I have found nearby so far. Chris Conway, the owner, is extremely knowledgeable about lighting and has a massive array of lights and modifiers, and Amie Boulton, his partner, is someone who is a VERY good model.

With no Steve and now being the solo photographer for this shoot, I started on the ‘look’ inspired by Stretchy here on PurplePort, namely a high-necked jersey and at least one hand up to the face, looking slightly away from the camera with a nondescript look.

I had initially tried it against a white background but quickly realised a black backdrop would be better.

Reflecting by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

And this one for a more downcast, apologetic look:

I'm sorry! by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Next was Steve’s 'Christine Keeler' photo.

Amie had short blonde hair, and Christine Keeler had long dark brown hair, but luckily, I had a (good) long dark brown wig and had brought it with me to use. While we had no MUA to recreate Christine’s hairstyle of the 1960s, it sort of looked the part (and completely changed Amie’s overall look).

The studio did not have an identical chair to the original (it’s in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London), but we found one (not perfect) that fitted the idea.

Iconic Keeler/chair photo from the 60's by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Then, I moved on to another of Steve’s ideas.

His original idea was Amie wrapped up in a black sheet (which Steve was going to bring) with one shoulder bare, but with no Steve and no black sheet, some quick thinking was required.

Amie produced a pair of black leather-look trousers and a black top that could fit the original idea, and we got these photos.

Smiling by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Feeling pleased with herself by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

She hears music and can't stop dancing by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Aloof by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

With this shoot taking place on the 7th February, just 7 days before Valentines Day, this was an obvious subject and I am sure many more photographers and models did the same.

Looking pleased with her roses by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

For the next couple of shots on that theme, Chris Conway set up a Gobo with little heart symbols to project onto the white background to add a bit of a hint as to what the photo was about. Thanks Chris.

Blowing a kiss by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Teasing and being cheeky! by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Something I particularly wanted to try was ‘swishing’ coloured Organza.

I already had some organza, but I ordered more, cut it to length, and heat-sealed the edges with a soldering iron because I knew it would fray with use.

I now realise that I cut the ends square, and I think it might have been better cut diagonally or even wavy diagonally so it doesn’t look too … rectangular. However, that’s the way you learn!!

Swishing coloured Organza by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Mixing her colours by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

I wanted a long, floaty dress’ look, and Amie had a long, light-material red dress that was perfect for that theme. So it was just a case of a white backdrop and Amie ‘swishing’ the skirt. Is ‘swishing’ a real word? I don’t know!

Swishing her dress by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Look - No Hands! by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

I then tried a B&W Portrait, which worked very well. I had been planning on an Audrey Hepburn ‘look’ from ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ but not the full over-the-top look – a bit simpler and more of the face and style.

I wanted to try more detailed editing in B&W and get the tones right with a good balance between black and white.

Of all the photos from that shoot, that one generated the most ‘loves’ on PurplePort, so I must have got something that was liked. To anybody who loved that photo, “Thank you” from me.

Studying you by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Last of all, I tried the RGB laser projector that Trident Studio had.

It took a little while to get it set up, and it was my first time shooting using the laser. I just went for the simplest circular cone-shaped projection.

Exploring the limits of the light by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

For this next photo, I wanted to use a laser projector image to recreate the look of the 'time travelling' function from the futuristic Arnold Schwarzenegger “Terminator” films, where the Terminators travel back in time crouched down in a ‘bubble’ – that look just became so iconic for me that I wanted to reproduce it.

It took a lot of editing, a few failures, and starting again, but I managed to achieve the ‘look’. It needs more work, I think. It also only got 4 loves and 1 comment, so I'm definitely back to the drawing board with that one!

Time traveller appears from the Future by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Tell us about the gear you used.

For this shoot, I used a Nikon D850, an MD-18 Battery Pack (for the ease of working in portrait mode and the improved battery life!), a Nikkor 50mm 1.4G lens, and a Nikkor 85mm 1.4G lens.

I deliberately wanted to use those two Prime lenses for the quality of the images they would give (especially at the mid-aperture range) rather than the (more generally useful) Nikon 24-120mm f4 lens that came with the camera.

I used the 50mm lens for most of the photos and the 85mm lens for the head and shoulder shots, and a few of the Valentine's Day shots. The 85mm lens was a bit ‘long’, and at times, I was in the studio's doorway for some photos, but I am pleased with the results. Lovely lenses.

What's your favourite image from the shoot?

It is difficult to choose just one, but I think this one is just a whisker ahead of the other optional choices. The pose was inspired by Stretchy’s similar shots and I just wanted to recreate that look.

I'm sorry! by photographer Mike Lyne with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]

Thank you, Mike Lyne, for sharing your creativity, experience and images with us. We loved learning all about your photoshoot with model Amie Boulton at Trident Studio [Studio Hire Plymouth]!

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

Here's where you can find more of Mike Lyne's work

PurplePort: Mike Lyne

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