It’s no coincidence that the studio is known as Retro Photostudio! Yes, I do shoot jewellery, product shots, and current fashions, but many of my clients are designers who specialise in retro-inspired apparel from forties and fifties. One recent client, Mike from The Seamstress of Bloomsbury was kind enough to recommend The Victory Sisters who were in need of a photographer for publicity shots for their forties-inspired group. What a lovely and talented bunch of ladies they are. I was able to call on the services of Verity from The Vanity Box to create authentic forties hair styling…and she did an amazing job.
Anyway, to digress for a moment, you probably are not aware that for very many years I made independent movies, initially working on Super 8 and 16mm film, before moving to Super VHS, and M11 broadcast tape, before going “non linear”. Initially this was on FAST Videomachine, before going over to Premiere Pro. I appreciate this is all probably gobbledegook to you – but the reality is that I moved over to take stills around ten years ago, and the editing gear has gathered dust ever since. This was a shame as over the years my movies had garnered a number of awards in international film festivals. Well it was always my intention to return to making movies (I love the editing process…always have), so my most recent DSLRs, the Nikon D800 and D610 were purchased as I knew they are both able to take great movies.
Movie Toys…
I attended the Photography Show a week or two back, so took the opportunity to check out the various ancillary bits of kit needed to make full use of my cameras’ movie capabilities. Suffice to say I returned will a much lighter wallet and a number of new “toys”*. So I have started familiarising myself with what the cameras can do, movie-wise. So, back to the main reason for this blog post: To get used to the controls I have been shooting test footage of anything or anyone that moves…and today that happened to be The Victory Sisters! During the photoshoot I had them sing so I could get some action stills. I’d initially taken a couple of video clips of the girls putting on makeup, with Verity attending to their hair, and even a couple of clips of the girls checking out the selection of stills. They’d changed back into their ‘day clothes’ and were on the point of leaving when I suggested they perform a song for me to video. They agreed, pretty much launching straight into a close harmony song before I’d any time to organise sound, tripod or lighting! So although the technical side is very ropy, I thought you might like to see the very first behind scenes movie I’ve shot in my studio. Despite the impromptu nature of the performance I think you will agree that the personality of these lovely ladies shines though – I think they are destined for great success! Retro Photostudio – Behind Scenes with The Victory Sisters from Terry Mendoza on Vimeo. * More about the movie”toys” and my return to commercial videomaking in future blog posts.
Tags: behind scenes, forties, movie, singers, video