I’ve recently been wanting to shoot a Model with a beard that is not anything but a statement beard….
At the end of November I got the chance to work with a man from London; Don Lickley. I wanted to create a shoot that was based around the beard and the man behind it. Before I even put the casting out I was flicking through Pinterest, Instagram, and other social media pages to create a mood board. From there I could then figure out how I wanted my final work to come out.
I think the best way to describe things is to show you what I did and explain how the photos were created.
Camera Settings: ISO- 100, F11, 1/125
I wanted to create a bearded lumberjack style. For this, Don was standing, and I used a medium-sized beauty dish and a slim gridded softbox as I wanted to bring out his facial features and the scale of Don’s beard. I tried a version of this shot with a bright white background but felt this photo had the atmosphere I was wanting.
Camera Settings ISO- 100 , F 10 , 1/125
Don is a funny guy, and throughout the photo shoot he just got funnier. I wanted to create a couple of shots of him being silly, and the props he brought with him really helped.
Don borrowed this pipe off a friend and I’m glad he brought it as it worked really well.
This image was shot using the same white backdrop and two slim gridded softboxes, and I love this as the light isn’t primarily on his face, it wraps around him and is atmospheric. This was Don just fooling around and every time I look at this shot I think of popeye or a sailor.
Camera Settings : ISO -100 , F 9 , 1/125
The photo above was from our last set (shot in colour originally). I changed the set up of the studio,
removing the white and putting a black backdrop in. I then thought how best to light it, using the beauty dish to Don’s left and the gridded slim softbox placed behind him slightly to his right. As you can see, Don wore his tweed blazer which made for a smarter looking shot.
A massive thank you to Don And Photovouge Studios.