Seaside shoot

Saturday saw one of the best shoots I've ever done. I say almost the same thing after every shoot I do, and I'm happy to say it's always true because they get better every single time. This one took place at the seaside in Brighton with Faye Sampson, involving a team of eight travelling down from London (2 models, 2 MUAs, photographer, creative director, myself and my styling assistant). The wardrobe for this was a mixture of structured and flowing fabrics, but all followed the theme of very very bright colours. As always with my styling, a few sheer pieces were tossed in and prompted the requirement of nipple covers (£5.00 for seven pairs at La Senza, best discovery ever!)

The models were Tia @ Leni's and Diana @ Sapphire; both were extremely bubbly and pretty much the life and soul of the shoot. Between getting changed in public behind towels and using a reflector to block the horrific wind at the pier, the shoot was challenging but also heaps of fun. We shot a total of five looks including some killer dresses by Aqua, cape shirts over bikinis and a lot of gold jewellery - my speciality!

This shoot is my last until August at the earliest as I'm flying out to Pakistan on Monday for four weeks. I may have also bagged myself an amazing internship for the end of August and beginning of September, so the weight on my chest has lifted a little at the prospect of having no worries on my holiday. I've also managed to pack up and return everything from the shoot already, which leaves my holiday packing to be done: I haven't started, so wish me luck!

Brick Lane Boy

This shoot took place months ago alongside the one featuring James Cox which was published in Etoilee magazine. It features Will, also from AMCK Models, and has just been published in Thirst For Vision magazine (can be viewed online by clicking here), which means that the images can finally be released after months of secrecy. Most of my shoots are currently under the radar while they await publication, so I can't wait till everything is released and I can release my website in August!

I leave you with my favourite shots of Will from the shoot.

Photographer: Faye Sampson

Assistant: Stuart Berham

Model: Will @ AMCK Models

Stylist: Myself

Styling Assistant: Zain Khan

MUA/Hair: Alicia Samuels

Stylist dream

Having popped on the River Island website for a spot of innocent afternoon shopping, this image on the homepage has immediately jumped out and captured me. I have now decided that I want my ensemble at every shoot to look exactly like this; therefore, my stylist list now consists of a vintage suitcase that can accommodate what generally turns out to be twice the amount needed for each shoot, and an extravagant gold rail with red carpet lining for me to curl up on with a cup of tea during shooting breaks. It has to be foldable to fit my suitcase of course, otherwise an additional item on my list will be a transit van.

Dreams can come true...

Career pathway ramble

Pictured above is a collection of all of the page designs I've done this academic year. They all follow a cutesy theme which probably wouldn't help my case if I decide to be a page designer, but considering how lazy and unimpressive I was during my graphic communication degree, I'm pretty damn proud of myself. Accomplishing this result as well as doing around 12 twelve shoots and getting good academic grades is something I never thought I'd achieve, so I hope I can do the same in 3rd year and create a stellar dissertation.

But reflecting on everything I've done this year is pecking away at my brain, because I still do not know what I want to be when I "grow up" (22 years of age and still in the mindset that education = childhood).

I love being a stylist but am enjoying the freelancing side of it, as it allows me to pick and choose what I want to do. I don't know if I could ever be a full-time stylist for a company, unless it was owned by Faye Sampson of course (because then I'll know all my shoots will be fun and explosive and planned months in advance).

I do love design but know that I am not talented enough to be a designer. There is a harsh reality to these things, and being capable of using Adobe InDesign is nothing compared to those who have degrees and vast amounts of experience in graphic design.

I'd like to consider myself as a capable writer but unfortunately I'm not a natural; I take forever to write, I write backwards, and despite believing that my English is good, I found out the other day that I've been spelling 'happened' as 'happend' for my entire life, which has resulted in loss of belief in my spelling, grammar and writing abilities.

Lastly, I've always fancied myself to be an art director, as I have developed leadership qualities despite not being born a leader, and like to be a catalyst and manager of creative projects. The problem here is that I lack innovation, and generally prefer working to briefs.

So what will I be? A page-designing styling art director?

Only time will tell, as I still have thousands of internships to apply to before I find my 'thing'.

Summer begins

The past two weeks have been dedicated to putting together a magazine as the final project for my second year. I was working in a team of nine people as the art director, so the last stage of the project was the most stressful for me as it was mine and the production designer's responsibility to visually execute the magazine. After many sleepless nights of designing, Amigo magazine is ready.

Open publication - Free publishing - More beauty

Amigo magazine has been designed as a free lifestyle publication to be offered onboard on coach journeys, the categories being culture, current affairs, entertainment, fashion and beauty, sport and technology. As a fashion enthusiast, I took on the design responsibility for the fashion section (along with sport, entertainment and the opening pages), and the lovely Faye Sampson provided photography tailored for the fashion features which we sneakily shot in between scenes during our shooting weekend. I can give her most of the credit for making the fashion pages look amazing - they can be seen from page 29 onwards, or in the images below. Among them is the one feature I wrote myself, titled 'The Denim Shirt', of which I'm very proud; I will probably write more articles for the Amigo website soon, so keep an eye out.

Now that I've got lots of free time I'm going to apply to thousands of internships until I have something sorted for August and September, plan the seaside shoot Faye and I are doing in two weeks time (SO excited for this one), and start preparing for my trip to Pakistan in four weeks. Top of my list? Wide-brimmed sun hat.