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SHARE A SHOOT: Holly Alexander Photography - Boo! What are best friends for?

Header photo: Image by photographer Holly Alexander Photography

Holly Alexander Photography is a part-time photographer based in Birmingham, United Kingdom, with more than 5 years of experience.

After sharing her shoot with the PurplePort community, Holly generously gave us her time for a quick interview, where she shared how these fabulous images were created, the inspirations behind the shoot, how it was planned, the camera gear she used, and much more.

Image by photographer Holly Alexander Photography

SHARE A SHOOT with Holly Alexander Photography

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

I did this photoshoot with two of my closest friends who aren't in the industry at all. They haven't modelled before, but it was actually their idea!

After seeing the 'ghost trend' on places like Instagram and TikTok, we thought it would be fun to create something similar ourselves. Plus, we all LOVE Halloween!

It seemed like the perfect fun activity for us to do together and create some fun memories we can always look back on.

Image by photographer Holly Alexander Photography

What did you do to plan the shoot?

We looked through various inspirational images, mostly using Pinterest, and shared them with each other. We then bought white single bedsheets and decided that fishnets, trainers, hats and sunglasses would be the perfect way to accessorise.

Pinterest is one of my favourite apps and I use it to find mood board images and inspiration for most of my photoshoots as it's easy to use. You can use keywords to find images suitable for what you are planning to create. It suggests similar images to what you search for as you go, and you can save them to various boards to keep them organised.

I find that I'm not as great at explaining shoot styles and themes with words, so I like to always share a mood board with models/MUAs/designers and whoever else may be involved when planning each shoot so that we are all on the same page and have the same expectations.

Image by photographer Holly Alexander Photography

How did you arrange the shoot?

We had arranged a Halloween-themed weekend together, with dinner, cocktails, crafts, and a scary film—so it was the perfect weekend to do the shoot.

On Sunday morning, we set out with our bedsheets and accessories and found some cool locations: a local park with a path to access a woodland, so we didn't need to go far between locations.

Image by photographer Holly Alexander Photography

What was it like shooting at that location?

The weather not being too great worked in our favour as the park and woodland were very quiet. We also set out on a Sunday morning when we knew there would be less people out and about.

It was forecast rain for the day, and luckily, during the time we spent shooting, it held off - as soon as we got to the car at the end, the rain started!

Image by photographer Holly Alexander Photography

Tell us about the gear you used.

The most difficult thing about this shoot was that I was also modelling as a ghost AND shooting it. I used the Canon Camera Connect app, which connects to the camera's Wi-Fi and allows you to use your phone as a remote.

We could barely see through the sheets at all, so I would set my camera in a good spot, make sure the settings were all correct for the shot, get the other models in position and plan where I would be in the frame. I could then get into position myself and use my phone to set a 10-second timer to take the shot.

It's pretty long winded, but as a photographer who is also a model, I do a lot of self-portrait shooting, so I am very used to working that way, and the app makes it a little bit easier. It was an added obstacle not being able to see!

Image by photographer Holly Alexander Photography

What's your favourite image from the shoot?

My personal favourite is the one where we are all throwing leaves and jumping into the air because it really captures the fun of the whole shoot - we were giggling throughout the entire time we were shooting.

I also love the ones with the red and orange leaves as the backdrop, as the colours just look beautiful and have a real Autumn vibe. It also wasn't one of our planned locations, we just went passed it on our way out, which highlights the fun of shooting outside on location as you never quite know what you will find.

Image by photographer Holly Alexander Photography

Thank you, Holly Alexander Photography, for sharing your creativity, experience and images with us. We loved learning all about your photoshoot!

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

Here's where you can find more of Holly Alexander Photography's work

PurplePort: Holly Alexander Photography

Website: www.hollyalexander.co.uk

Instagram: hollyalexanderphotographer

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