Shooting on Sundays

Last Sunday I shot with one of my favourite teams and one amazing model, Sofia Titova from Next.  It was a bit like a reunion and we celebrated by playing Gangnam Style (Sofia's request), having dance-offs and ordering Dominos.  Here are some of my behind-the-scenes snaps:

Peace out guys! :)

Photographer:  Maria Molko

Stylist: Juu Hau Zane

Makeup & hair: Michelle Dacillo

I love the smell of sea air...

...and I also love a good location shoot!  A few weekends ago, our team hopped on a train to Goring-by-Sea to shoot along the beach.  It was a day involving gumboots (wellies), mini-cab drivers Terry and Raj (as named by us), a cafe storage room, fortress-of-solitude-like props, two horses and the beautiful Paige from Premier.

We were a bit concerned by the clouds constantly threatening to chuck it down, but we managed to get away with only a light shower.  The Bluebird Cafe in Ferring went above and beyond accommodating by letting us set up camp in their storage room.  Adlena and I even had our own hair and makeup room in the laundry and it smelled very clean indeed.  

I did mention horses and we were incredibly lucky to have found Vicki, who allowed us to shoot with hers.  We thought she was only bringing one, but she brought two on the day in case one wasn't feeling up to it.  Basically, we had a spare horse and I can honestly say that I've never had one of those!  Incredible.

This shoot was born in a once-up-a-Flora-Deborah-daydream and it was a big deal to see it happen in real life.  Thank you to Flora who put such a whopper of a team together, spent hours trawling animal forums (specifically photogenic horses who live by the sea), co-ordinating everyone's awkward timetables and for just pulling it off.  

Here are a few snaps I took.  I am veeeery excited about this editorial and I hope I can share it with you soon!

It looks cold and it was

The menu at the Bluebird Cafe.  Fish finger sandwich!

I am thinking hipster seaside princess queen.  All those things.

Please don't kill me, Adlena.  You are an adorable green poo.  

Brave Paige :)

Photography:  Flora Deborah

Styling:  Coline Bach

Set design:  Aurelie Taillefer

Hair:  Adlena Dignam

Nails:  Sophie at The Illustrated Nail

Model:  Paige at Premier

Photography assistant:  Emma Jacks

Styling assistant: Emmely Dovaston

P.S. I'm now on Bloglovin x

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Katarina

Yesterday was about grungy 90s styling inspired by the film, Kids.  Thank you to Viva Hair Salon in Soho for letting us use your basement!

It's always lovely to work with a new team and I hope to work them again soon.  Photographer Yoshitaka Kono shot on film and stylist Nicole Lucas came up with some real outfit gems.  And what a pleasure it was to work with our amazing model, Katarina.

Here are some behind the scenes snaps:

And these are some of the many dolls we found stashed in the basement.

THE TEAM

Photographer:   Yoshitaka Kono
Stylist: Nicole Lucas
Model: Katarina Nemcova @ Profile

Pretty Isabella

Last week, I shot an editorial with Flora Deborah and Olivia Wright at the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park.  The day started and progressed rather shakily with the rain threatening to ruin the whole thing and the combination of Olivia and my navigation skills resulting in us circling, on foot through a swamp, the entire circumference of the wrong plantation.  We thank Jamie at M+P for his patience as he quietly followed us as we found ourselves back at the car park more than once in 1.5 hours.

Once we finally found the rest of the team who were drinking Ribena and eating crackers, things were underway.  We had models Kaitlyn Dorman from Storm and Jamie Walker from M+P with us to shoot a boy/girl/floral/matchy-matchy story surrounded by the lovely flora and greenery of Isabella Plantation.  Once we got going, we got through it pretty speedily.  I managed four makeup looks each, keeping the hair simple and natural with a side parting.  The makeup was inspired by flowers, in particular pansies and we used a mix of painted on and real flowers on our models.

Here are some snaps I took behind the scenes:

Jamie is wearing my coat

I am so excited to see the final images!

THE TEAM

Photographer: Flora Deborah

Photographer's assistant: Annelie Saroglou

Stylist: Olivia Wright

Models: Jamie Walker @ M+P and Kaitlyn Dormer @ Storm

2012?

It has been a total AGE since I posted on my blog and to be honest, I was surprised that it was still here!  Hopefully, I'll be updating it more often now as there are lots of exciting things going on and new images to share.  The chronology will probably be all wrong as there's a lot of back log to get through and it's all jumbled up in my head anyway, but better late than never, I guess.

This is going back to the beginning of the year, but I shot a wonderfully fun Candy Pop concept with Elne, stylist Dasha Samoylova and our models Aurelija and Tim.  I did the makeup and hair for this one.

Enjoy!

New Website

A short and sweet, belated piece on my new website and online portfolio.  It took a lot of fiddling about and for someone like me who seems to be stuck in a technological age when Napster and ICQ was the sh*t, I am really happy with the outcome.  I used online portfolio builder Viewbook (www.viewbook.com) and what sold it for me was the gallery layout.  If you're looking for a good, clean template with an intermediate level of customisation, give this a go.

Visit my website at www.michelledacillo.com

:)

More colour...

...but this time, in a cemetery.  We shot at Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington with pieces from Isabel Fishlock's collection.  Olivia brought some appropriately styled gingerbread men.  It was a good day.  I even managed a nap (I was meant to be minding the stuff though.  Nothing was stolen, so I feel I can say this now). Yui worked her prop magic and created some awesome flowers which appeared to be on steroids (they were crazy, we could not control them).  Here are some of my snaps. What I did not manage to take a photo of was that crazy stick twirling guy.

Yui's creations

The thing about cemeteries is that branches get in the way

Somewhere in that pile of stuff are Olivia's gingerbread men

Lovely Hannah May

It looks really pretty, but I would never sit there...

Those flipping branches again

Flower!

Photographer:  Flora Deborah Martinez

Styling: Olivia Wright

Set Design: Yui Mikami

Makeup and hair: Me

Model:  Hannah May from M&P

Colour Clash

A colourful test on a beautiful day in London.  Here are some snaps from behind the scenes:

Photographer:  Ana Barreira

Assistant: Bella

Styling: Rachael Wild

Makeup & Hair: Me

Model: Connie from Storm

Neglected already, tsk tsk

Hmm, with a measly two posts, this poor page is already feeling neglect.  I think the reason I update so infrequently is not that I don't have a whole lot to blog, but it's the filtering of material and self-censorship (yes, I am THAT controversial) that occurs before the words have a chance to get banged out.  That, laziness and the secret hope that the blog will somehow write itself.  I could ask myself, why am I bothering to keep a blog if it's such a chore?  Why does anyone keep a blog?  I suppose for some it's a daily journal, a means of self promotion, a way to keep friends in the loop, or a platform to share your passions with others who have the same.   The purpose of my blog probably encompasses all of the aforementioned, but since my followers currently consist of one person, who coincidently is married to me, I might just stop typing and have a face to face conversation (about blogging or something else, not quite sure yet) with him.

Neurotica ASOS Marketplace Shoot

Today was spent out and about in Bethnal Green with the lovely ladies from fashion label, Neurotica, shooting for their ASOS Marketplace launch.  Cold though it was, we managed to keep our spirits up with layers of vintage capes and knitwear, cafe stops and Quavers.

Neurotica designs mixed with vintage accessories

Time for tea

Keeping warm

Borrowing purple, retro looking bicycle from stranger on the street

Designer:  Victoria McGrane (http://shop.thisisneurotica.co.uk/)

Photographer: Lisa Reckermann

Stylist & Hair: Faith Kisby

Stylist Assistant: Camila Walker

Makeup: Me

Models: Helen, Emilie & Chantelle