Girls On Film

( Behind The Scenes at our Fashion Shoot)

When you look at the glossy pictures of models wearing gorgeous clothes and looking amazing in online shops and emails from Retailers, have you ever wondered what it’s REALLY like during a fashion shoot?

Recently I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes with the photography team from Trethek Studios and style a fab team of models from their Model Agency for a Tortue fashion shoot in Gran Canaria.  

It was literally a flying visit as whilst the team had been out there all week shooting content for different brands, I only had a 2 night window to get out there for our shoot!

Living in Cornwall can be a bit restrictive on flight availability so Birmingham International was my nearest airport with flights to suit, so off I toddled in my electric car, for a very dark, wet long journey needing multiple charging stops on the way (its not all glam sleeping in your car whilst at an EV charging point in the early hours of the morning in Solihull!).

Given the short duration of the trip for the shoot, I had only booked 10kg of hand luggage.  That was a challenge!!!!!!   Half the case contents were what I needed and the other half of the case, the various outfits needed for the 6 models!  Everything was rolled to minimise creasing and travelled really well with the exception of the Linen Dress that needed a good iron when I got there!  In fact, I was really surprised at just how much I managed to pack away!  I had 17 items of clothing for the shoot which made me think that if this had been a weeks holiday there would easily have been plenty of outfit choices for the duration and a great chance to save the cost of hold luggage when flying with a low cost airline too!

The 17 items represented two different capsule collections – one based on black colourways and the other based on blue.  The pieces were chosen partly as they were  the right sizes (or one size out) from what would fit the models and also partly for the different mix and match combinations that were possible to create a multitude of outfits for the shoot.

The studio team collected me from the airport to drive to the Villa in the hills behind Maspalomas where the whole team were staying.  After a little explore of the villa it was a case of getting all the clothes prepped ready for the shoot the next morning which meant ironing everything in the heat of the day to make sure it was pristine which probably took about an hour … way longer than I ever iron at home!!!!

The first evening was literally a chance to prep food together, eat together and chill with the team ready for the shoot the next day.  I had already met most of the team beforehand as some of the models had taken part in our recent fashion show and a couple had done a studio shoot last year but it was a chance to relax and chat ready for the morning ahead.

9am and everyone was ready – fully face makeup done, hair done and ready for the off!  I grabbed all the hangers of clothes and popped them in the car as we drove down to the park in the centre of Maspalomas to scout out the locations for the shoot. 

It was quite a big park with plenty of sports facilities (and multiple football matches taking place) but beyond the sporty bit were lines of palm trees, a little lake, cacti gardens and some interesting trees with dangling vines (I must admit that gave me flashbacks to watching episodes of Tarzan in black and white TV when I was little!!).

I walked around part of the park with the photography team, we decided on the first locations for the shoot being the lines of palm trees and the bridge over the lake then I left them setting up their equipment whilst I went off to walk around the park again scouting out more possible locations, looking for interesting back drops and taking photographs on my phone so I could remember what I had seen and roughly where it was!     There was a beautiful huge pampass grass plant but I vaguely remember someone telling me something about “swingers” and pampass grass so thought I better avoid that one!!

The sun was shining and it was beginning to feel quite warm, however dark ominous clouds were looming over the hills behind the villa and we had a sense that it was only a matter of time before we got a soaking so time was of the essence and we needed to start the shoot!

The models had brought all the items of clothing from the car and laid them on a handy park bench whilst I dished out which pieces I wanted which model to wear.  A bit of alfresco changing took place and off we went to get the first photographs underway.

During the shoot we had a stalker!!!!  A Muscovy Duck took a shine to us and followed us all around the park.  Sometimes trying to photo bomb the photographs, sometimes just hanging around with the models.  Before long a second one appeared and kept showing off its feathers as if to say “hey – look at me – my clothes are fantastic too!”

The girls then changed clothes ready for the next location and I was loaded up with the  clothes and coat hangers as we walked through the park (in the style of Blue Peter when they played the game where they loaded a child up with lots of presents and a cabbage and so long as they didn’t drop the cabbage in the timescale they could keep everything).

The second location was the cacti garden.  A few little logistics to navigate here as there was purple hose piping irrigation system which we had to hold out of the way of the photographs whilst making sure not to get too close to the cacti as the clothes moved in the breeze.   We didn’t spend too long here as it was a bit tricky so moved on to the next location which was the bridge at the lake.

By the time we had reached the lake (with the ducks still following us), we now had a band of pigeons to contend with too!!!  Its pretty tricky trying to shoo away pigeons whilst loaded up with 17 wooden coathangers and a load of clothes!!  We eventually got the photos at the bridge and by the lake on the giant pebble rocks but those dark black clouds were edging ever closer and we had to get creative with angles showing the blue sky rather than the black as well as working with the light.

After a bit more alfresco changing, we relocated to the interesting trees for the last part of the shoot.   These were very unhelpfully right next to one of the gated entrances to the park, with a busy main road behind, so timing was of the essence, not only with the weather, but to avoid pedestrians walking through and also to avoid the traffic passing in the background too!

We decided that we needed to wrap up the park shoot at this point as those black clouds looked like they were about to drop so we camped out in the café/bar in the park  for the models to enjoy Mojito cocktails … and for me to enjoy a coffee!! (and to rest my very achey back from carrying all the stuff around and standing for a few hours in the heat too!)

We made it back to the villa in the end before the weather dropped thunder, lightning and torrential rain too.  The models had great fun sitting on the inflatables from the pool, eating ice cream lollies and filming the weather but once it had passed and dried up we got a few more shots in the garden of the villa with one of the models who had not been at the park shoot. Then time to relax, eat food and get an early night ready for the day ahead!  

The next morning the sun was shining and we wanted to get some shots by the pool at the villa, so the team took the covers off, got the pool cleaner nets out and the models prepared themselves for a “holiday vibe” shoot.  Our mixed print shirt made from 100% cotton voile looks fab as a swimwear cover up and our 100% cotton tie dye rectangular scarf at 170cm x 100cm is great worn as a sarong over swimwear too!

There was a cute little balcony which I thought would be a good location so we went inside, opened up the shutters ….. then had to hang on to all the paintings on the walls inside the villa as it was like a wind tunnel!!!!  I also had to hang on to one of the models who stubbed her toe stepping out onto the balcony, tripping and heading much faster than I would have like towards the railings!!!!   Cue some ice, some plasters from my “emergency” kit in my case to stop the bleeding and all was well again.

I wanted part of the shoot to really portray fun and friendship so we went for a more relaxed “reportage style” approach rather than posed with the next pictures with all of the models at the poolside veranda enjoying a relaxed shoot over breakfast together.

It was interesting chatting to the models to see what their favourite pieces had been front the shoot.  Number one item was our eco friendly satin skirt with floral pattern.

Second was the long sleeved twin set top (a vest and twist front long sleeve top).  This proved popular worn as separates or as a cover up over the mixed print dress or over our twist front jumpsuit. It has a very fine lightweight feel so perfect for the heat of Gran Canaria too!

Third was the embroidered cuff shirt from our Planet Tortue range.  It has gorgeous subtle detailing, slightly puff sleeves and a “boho” vibe especially when worn with our Romy jeans that have paisley print details.

Then, that was it!  Shoot over, time to repack the case, say my goodbyes and head to the airport for the flight back to Birmingham and the long drive home in the dark that evening to Cornwall!   

Angela x