Caithness Class

John Baikie shoots six brides in Glasgow then escapes to Malta!

Spending your birthday in the company of seven models may seem like a great assignment to most, but it was a tough job. Two Glasgow city-centre venues were booked for the shoot, which was for a local bridal designer. Elske Bridal wanted some new dramatic images to promote their four new designers, and since I was going to Glasgow to fly to the SWPP/BPPA Malta get-together on the 1 November, Hallowe'en, seemed like the best time to pull everything together.

For previous shoots we had used model agencies, but this time I used one of the online model sites, mainly so we could pick and choose the right girls and get a good variety of looks and styles, rather than taking what the agency gave us. The response was great and in the end I was struggling to select the four we needed and decided just to choose seven! I am very poor at saying no to beautiful women, often to my detriment.

So, we ended up with seven models, two make-up artists and one photographer, along with four dress designers. A lot of planning was required to make this work. I had to plan the timings for the models, with the make-up artists, and with me so everyone got what they wanted from the day. Detailed lists were drawn up showing all the timings and these were sent out to all the girls, who were very excited about the whole thing. I had set it up in such a way that I had two girls with me at each stage, while the two makeup artists prepared the next two. It was only at this stage that I realised what a task I had set myself.

The day before I was getting stressed as I realised how busy I was going to be, and also had Malta to think about, so I had a lot on my mind. Panic was setting in, because I knew it wouldn’t take much to go wrong for it all to go pear-shaped. I travelled the 300 miles from Caithness to Edinburgh on the Tuesday night and got about three hours, sleep on my sister’s sofa. Then it was a case of picking up the first model, Angie in Edinburgh, then driving up to Stirling to collect Billie. Then the first problem – bad traffic accident near Edinburgh, big tailbacks and a call from a make-up artist who was stuck in it. We managed to miss the worst of the problems but did take over half an hour to get out of Edinburgh. So much for being there an hour early to check out the venues!

So eventually the three of us arrived at the first venue, Corinthian, slightly late. The models were there for the first part and getting ready, which gave me time to have a look around for locations. I Immediately decided the fireplace in the bar would be the first stop, as long as I could get a model to climb it! Shannon, runner-up in Miss Scotland this year, had already told me she was a former skiing champion, so she couldn’t be scared of heights! By the end of the day I was actually telling one or two of the models NOT to climb things as they all got into the swing of things. Angie, in particular, seemed determined to get herself into the most scary spots in the whole venue. I’ve never experienced the situation of me telling someone not to climb into a window or whatever, they usually tell me there’s no way they are doing what I have asked them! Arta was the second venue we visited, and it was the best – I loved the choices I had for backdrops, there was just too much to choose from. Lots of different looks and feels, different colour schemes, different lighting. I wished we had just spent the whole day in this one venue as it was just great. At one stage we ended up with a bride lying on the bar, with a bottle of tequila in her hand.

Normally I shoot 99 per cent of my work using available light, but we wanted something more moody and dramatic this time so I brought along my Arri video lights to try to give the images this feel. I shot using a Canon 1D MkII and a Canon 30D, mainly using the 24-70mm f2.8 lens on the 1D and the 70-200mm f2.8 on the 30D. Over the course of the day I shot about 1,300 images, which was actually less than I expected! This was still a hell of a lot of editing to look forward to when I got back from Malta.

The six models, Amie, Angie, Billie, Fiona, Kirsty and Shannon were all great. Heather, model number seven ended up being rushed to hospital and missed the shoot. Sian and Tracy did a fabulous job on hair and make-up and Sian even stayed back to turn Angie into a Hallowe'en bride for me for a bit of fun.

The schedule went way off track and we eventually finished shooting at 7pm. I was absolutely shattered, felt like I had run a marathon! I do tend to throw everything I have into a shoot, so after nine hours it had taken its toll, and all I could think about was a hot bath and food. Still, the first task was to download the images to my laptop and burn them to DVD as back-up, with the laptop coming to Malta with me, anything could go wrong. I always back-up my images immediately after a shoot because you just never know what can go wrong. So eventually in the early hours of the morning I got to ‘bed’, on a different sofa this time! Dreaming of Malta and no more brides!

Now, back from Malta, and into the images – luckily they didn’t need much work, apart from a few for myself. Overall I think the shoot went very well. The client loved the images, just what they wanted, I think. The models had a great time and I enjoyed it, despite the chaos and hard work. Next time I arrange one of these though, I will have to say no to more people as it was just too crazy!