Beautica Magazine (website – instagram) is an internationally published magazine about all kinds of creative Fashion, Beauty, Nude and Boudoir. They partnered with me and a pool of talented London-based photographers to create a special edition for Halloween 2021. And 15% of all sales are donated to the Great Ormond Hospital for Children in London, so it's also a great opportunity to do good.
Not many of you might know, but I started my photography journey in Beauty and Fashion. Because of my family's work, I was introduced to Fashion at a very young age and even worked as a model myself at 7-8 years old for the Pitti Bimbo events. So it felt kind of natural to lean towards this industry when I first picked up a camera. On one side, I used it to complement my Design job and help my clients create images for their websites and prints; on the other, I was starting to build my own career in other disciplines and be featured in magazines.
So I was, of course, very excited when Beautica Magazine presented this opportunity to me.
Preparation
When it comes to portraits, I tend to have a light bag. My go-to lenses are a 35mm, the Mitakon Speedmaster F/0.95, the Fujifilm 56mm F/1.2 and my absolute favourite Fujifilm lens, which is the 90mm F/2. And I also take a speedlight with me, which in this case was the Godox V1 (although the natural light was good and I did not use the flash).
I wish Fujifilm would finally release a fast 70mm prime lens because, with this genre, I love a 105mm focal length (the equivalent on full frame). But they haven't yet, and it's not in their roadmap. Maybe one day…
We did the shooting in 2 locations in London that we felt were maybe cliché but very fitting with the theme. A roofless gothic church and a cemetery in the woods. Interestingly all the photos I selected to send to Beautica Magazine were shot in the first location. But in the magazine, you will also see photos from the second location taken by the other photographers.
When we started in the morning, it was really overcast. Which, as you know, works well for portraits. But some rays of sunlight started to appear later and made for some very beautiful effects.
By the way, I'm going to add links to all models and make-up artists; Instagram profiles down below.
The Photos
I created a portfolio page on this blog to show you my published images and a few more, here. But let me tease you with a couple…
All the people involved in this work for Beautica Magazine were absolutely fantastic, and we created a great collaborative atmosphere. It was a team of professionals I want to work with again; even those with less experience did a phenomenal job.
When it came to editing, I didn't do much to the models themselves other than maybe remove misplaced hair and get rid of some unflattering shadows. But with the background and the overall scene, I went for some moody tones and sometimes converted the foliage to a red/orange tint. Something more in line with the “bloody” and scary Halloween theme or just with Autumn.
Let me know in the comments if you want me to create some detailed tutorials about the editing. I will, if there's interest ;)
The team
Now, as I mentioned earlier, here are all the links…
Models
@photos_katarz – @eva.tamaya – @imhappybecoz – @ella.judge.portfolio – @mestiumira – @taylortwins – @ro_whyte – @taylorsobrien_ – @iammodeljulia – @belleinker82 – @yov_logo – @bijal200 – @livv__4 – @mihaela.osan (a few more models arrived later but I did not photograph them)
Make-up Artists
@azzurra_facciolo – @susankeller_mua – @glamourandglamourous – @debbie_hayward_mua
The Photographers
I'm a very bad person, but I did not keep track of everyone around… You're going to have to look at the #Hallow2021London hashtag to find all photographers (and missing models). At least, a big shoutout to @streetlife77a_portraits for assembling the team.
That's it. Don't forget to check the project page in my portfolio, and let me know if you would like to see more content like this.
The magazine is not in my store, but this special edition of Beautica magazine can be purchased (print and/or digital) on MagCloud: https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/2117814 (International shipping available).
Happy Halloween!
