References for Melanie Bond (Butler)

Steve Mitchell

I finally managed to shoot with Mel, after admiring her work on here, over the last few years while we have been through various restrictions due to the pandemic. We shot for a couple of hours at F/8 in Gloucester after Mel put out a casting call saying she would be at the studio in the morning and would anyone else fancy a shoot in the afternoon. Pre-shoot communications were excellent and as it was our first shoot, I asked Mel, to come up with five outfit changes that reflected her unique style and personality. She has a warm engaging personality which makes her a joy to work with and our time in the studio just seemed to fly-by. Thank you for great shoot Melanie. Very highly recommended,

MistyDrew

I had a 2nd shoot with Mel, though I got delayed by quarter of an hour due to public transport issues, we had a fantastic 6 hour shoot time, which allowed us plenty of time to get to locations though we didn't get time to do both locations as planned as time ran away from us.

We had a lovely day with fantastic weather, though we nearly got run over by a LGTB Youth Parade as we were about to take lunch though thankfully that didn't get in our way.

Another fantastic shoot with Mel, with a great selection of images, which I need to sort out a few others as quick as possible for Mel to ensure she has all the images she needs.

Thanks Mel for yet another brilliant Shoot and I look forward to shooting again with you sometime soon. Highly recommend Mel!

Pete Francis

My first shoot for some time was with Mel in a sea of bluebells in the Cotswolds. As well as being a very talented subject to shoot with she was very supportive and patient to help us get some great images. Mel is a delight to work with. Her communications skills are excellent and we set up the shoot and details very quickly and easily. Mel strikes beautiful poses of her own accord or as directed and is creative and professional and great fun to work with.

Tugmaster

Had a wonderful location shoot this week with Melanie in the Cotswolds. This was only my second location shoot with a model, and it went very very well. Melanie was punctual, pre-shoot comms were excellent and the locations she took me too were great – better than I could have found.

Don’t think we stopped talking the whole shoot. Melanie is very easy to get on with and I think we captured some great images, even found a few Bluebells.

This has definitely given me a taste for doing more location shoots in the future and Melanie was the ideal person for this and I cannot thank her enough – Highly Recommended :)

JeremyGilson

Another great shoot with Mel, this time in the Cotswolds. We were fortunate with the weather and had great fun shooting at two lovely locations, Broadway Tower and a field of rapeseed.

Mel is fab to work with, always well organised, great communication, and very creative with suggestions on outfits, locations and poses. If you haven’t worked with Mel yet and are reading this, then don’t hesitate to book her, she is amazing to work with and the results are fantastic.

Thanks Mel as always, I’m looking forward to our next shoot already!

Mbirchamphoto

My second shoot with Mel after our first one four years ago! We both had a good idea what we wanted to achieve at the WW2 camp location. As before Mel arrived well prepared for the shoot and being as experienced as she is need very little directing from me (which helped given the cold I had). Mel was a superstar today and is amazing to work and always incredibly friendly.

Premiere Photography

I recently had the pleasure of working with Mel, I have wanted to do so for a long time and I was not disappointed. Mel is a lovely down to earth young lady, very well turned out and professional. I hope to get to work with her again very soon.

Ridefree 68

I had been trying to do some light painting effects for a while when Melanie invited me to join a shoot at Alastair Currill's studio. I know Melanie always

produces amazing shoots so I agreed, I'm VERY glad I did, with Melanie's renowned patience and a lot of help from Alastair I came away with some amazing shots in a

style I had never really tried before. If you get a chance to go, take it!

100% recommended and thanks again Mel for a great evening. See you soon.

Nigel Wood Photographs

Back in January Mel suggested a light painting shoot. This is my second shoot with Mel and she organised the evening at Alastair Currill studios for Friday and it was a great shoot.

Prior to the shoot Mel kept intouch and asked if people had any ideas even though she had plenty herself.

On the evening she was really helpful, had ideas and also took on suggestions really well. It was a great session and Mel is a pleasure to work with. I look forward to working with Mel again soon.

Viv2

A very enjoyable shoot with Mel at Upton House. She brought some changes of outfit and shoes as we planned to shoot in the house and the grounds. Fortunately it was a warm sunny day so we could do everything I had planned and Mel suggested some shots as well, which I always appreciate. Mel is always professional and is happy to go along with my ideas. I am looking forward to more shoots with her in the near future and highly recommend her.

Ridefree 68

Had another great afternoon with Melanie at F8 studio in Gloucester! As always Mel was a joy to work with, making sure each photographer had the best chance possible of capturing the shots they wanted, the time flew by! I came away thoroughly happy and bursting to get on with any editing required.

Thanks again Melanie, I can't wait until the light painting shoot.

Pete

TWphotography1

Melanie was a pleasure to shoot with at a group shoot 1920s flapper event. She was easy going and once we got into it the shoot went really quickly. It was a pleasure to have been approached by Melanie to attend this event and will recommend her and hope to shoot with her again

Tugmaster

Shot Melanie again at the 1920s Flapper Girl Group Shoot she and Paul Davies were running in Gloucester. This is the second time I have shot with Melanie at this studio.

Her outfits were brilliantly in keeping with the theme and as before her makeup and hair perfect. Poses were natural and in keeping with the style we were going for - luckily for me she needed no direction.

As I have said before Melanie is highly professional model and her comms are always timely with all the information you could need regarding the shoot. I am so looking forward to working with Melanie again soon, probably on location.

I can again highly recommend her…

MistyDrew

It took myself and Mel a while to organize the shoot to be just how we wanted it to be, and for a change I went out of my usual comfort zone of traveling outside of the South West and enjoy a journey to Oxford. My first official trip and shoot in Oxford the city of Morse, Colleges, Don's, Masters and Universities.

Such a historical city that working with Mel on our first shoot together made this a fantastic shoot I really enjoyed meeting and working with Mel on our first occasion and look forward to our next already booked shoot in April only 2 months time.

I think we had great communications from start to finish, sharing our expectations. Each happy to use social distancing & face masks with a Lateral Flow Test done 24 hours in advance for both our benefits. From the time we met up until the shoot finished we had a great time with fantastic conversations and 2 warming up coffee breaks at the start & finish.

That we're both Animal lovers also added to meeting a mixture of Dogs, a Cat, Squirrel & Robin on along the Oxford part of the Kenet canal all added to the day for both of us.

3 hours flew by way to quickly I managed to get some after shoot images as well to add to posts though forgot to get some that I know I started off going for until the batteries ran out. Well when you that much fun what can you do?

I highly recommend Mel to all those who are looking to work with her.. if you don't you're missing an opportunity. Roll on April 9th!!!

MistyDrew

This was my first shoot with Melanie and we both shot in and around the fantastic city of Oxford, which was my first shoot outside of the South West, it made it more interesting and fantastic.

With a mixture of location and genre style as discussed, Melanie's communication is fantastic, and she makes the fun so enjoyable with her unique style and outfits.

I loved working with Melanie and have worked with her twice in a short space of time. I look forward to working with her again in the future. Thanks for a great first shoot Melanie... Drew

RobRaw

Super location shoot with Melanie today in slightly inclement weather conditions.

Despite my rather limited experience in this genre Melanie’s professionalism and enthusiasm were instrumental in me obtaining the type of shot I was looking for

Good fun, relaxed and easy to work with I would whole heartedly recommend Melanie to anyone.

Pre shoot communication was brilliant.

Really enjoyed my shoot with Mel .

Sam2003

Met up with Mel again this time to try out Light painting, this was to be a very experimental shoot, I have experimented with light painting myself before this shoot, but hadn't had the opportunity to run through this on a full shoot like this. I had centred in on the styles I would like to try and communicated this to |Mel before hand, and as usual, Mel came equipped with an excellent small range of outfits to reach the goal. I have been working with Mel for a while now over a range of shoots, which only goes to show how easy she is to get along with,

As I said this shoot was to be experimental from the outset, and Mel was extremely patient and remained cheery throughout, as we added to and altered shots.

I always enjoy a shoot with Mel, whether its in the studio or on location, I would advise anyone to take up the chance to shoot with her, I'll guarantee you a fine set of photos wherever you work, as for me I am already planning our next shoot, Thanks Mel, always fun working with you

Adventure in Imagination

My second shoot with Melanie and she was my first choice for modelling my new clothing range of dance wear. Her confidence, helpfulness and general friendly attitude make her an excellent model to work with. She knows how to pose to the best effect and she was great at offering suggestions for outfit combinations to go with the various tops I had brought. But she is also open to the ideas that I had for images and it was a fantastic day and a wonderful collaboration. I would absolutely recommend Melanie as a model and look forward to the next time that we can work together.

Sam2003

Enjoyed another brilliant shoot with Mel, this time shooting Boudoir at Penguin studios in Thame in Oxfordshire, Picked Mel up en route and as usual had a fun chat on the way. Once there Mel swung into action, we had chatted about outfits and styles beforehand and she packed a selection of outfits to choose from and we could get straight off into the making what Id envisioned into a reality.

Its always fun to work with Mel, we chatted easily as we worked and had a joke or two as we went, In the end I ended up with over 200 final photos from this shoot alone, I've been working with Mel over a year now and I hope it carries on ..indefinitely.

Definitely would recommend working with Mel if you get the chance, that's one shoot wrapped up and now we are planning the next one, cant wait!

StevesFreelancePhotography

I had the good fortune of doing a remote photo shoot (England to California, USA). A total professional! Ready to shoot on time, took direction without question, and was extremely pleasant during the entire shoot. I'm hoping to shoot with her again in the future, and I highly recommend her remote or in person shoots!