I was encouraged to join a group on Facebook, the Burlesque Big Sister/ Brother project, where I could give something back to the community that I have been a part of for a good number of years now. This year I offered a photoshoot per month, winners are selected and I contact them for a date to shoot.

So next up we have Carmen Mon Oxide!

I do like being able to travel to locations where I can shoot with a model, and in this case, this was a trip to Clapham Common to meet Carmen Mon Oxide. Carmen was having some makeup done first so I visited the house close to the common. Carmen had previously sent me photos of the headdress she would be wearing but to see it live was even better!

While I was walking on the main road up to the house I noticed several people, coming from the direction of the common, wearing a lot of glitter on their faces. I could hear music in the distance so figured there may be a festival going on, which helped while we were walking around as the passing public thought we were part of the festival.

We started close to a lake and I asked Carman to stand on a small jetty for a few shots. Unfortunately, we forgot the shark boots so we took the shots again on the way back.

From here we walked on to a grove of trees, past more staring public, and found a clearing with a single tree in the middle. I asked Carmen to stand against the tree and look to her right away from the camera to create the shot below. I had an idea for the shot as soon as I saw the area.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost - American Poet.

We moved towards where the music was coming from and found a bandstand where Carmen was asked for a couple of selfies with the now adoring public. I took a few shots here but it was a little too public and I was having to wait for people to move out of shot quite a lot so we moved on.

I had my portrait lens with me, the Canon 50mm f1.8. After a quick explanation of the extreme depth of field, this can produce Carmen posed for several shots where I tried to get a sharp focus on the eye. I like the shot below as it also has a rainbow effect which I didn't see when I took the shot on location.

So short the depth of field, the back of the head dress is out of focus...

Moving back to the lake I asked Carmen to lie down on the jetty so I could get a lower angle shot of the lake in the background. Up until now, most had been portrait shots so I wanted one in the landscape.

Heading back home we stopped at a bus stop for an 'out of place' urban shot. We waited until the single waiting passenger had got on the bus so we wouldn't disturb them before taking pictures, the female bus driver did have a bit of a laugh as the bus pulled away.

This was a shorter shoot duration than others I have done as this was the only outfit required by Carmen, so after a while, the shots would have got a bit similar to each other.

I walked Carmen back home then made my way back to the station past more glittery public...

This was a fun quick shoot and one of the more 'public aware' locations that I have visited. We have not hassled at any point and everyone was either shocked, laughing or wanted a selfie!

I do like the shark boots Carmen!