Author: Leah

Categories
Projects

The Debut Girls

This small body of work which I produced in 2008 is inspired in part by iconic images of religious saints, martyrs and images of women from myth and legend as rendered in 19th Century academic paintings.

"Girl Hiding With Horse, from The Debut Girls 2008
“Girl Hiding With Horse”, from The Debut Girls 2008
"Blossoms", from The Debut Girls 2008
“Blossoms”, from The Debut Girls 2008

The photographs deal, superficially, with purity and innocence associated with age old perceptions of the virgin/maiden/bride, although at heart lie concepts of the truth about assumed and chosen identity, the crux of being individual and alike in our society.

"Blossom Bride", from The Debut Girls 2008
“Blossom Bride”, from The Debut Girls 2008
"Gloves", from The Debut Girls 2008
“Gloves”, from The Debut Girls 2008

The Debut Girls comments on changing views of gender perception; here utilising the archetypes of innocence and stereotype through the use of certain symbols and objects in the picture space.

The subjects and objects are documented so as to communicate a sense of isolation and the duality between beauty and restriction, perception and reality.

To see the rest of the series you can look here. Below are pages and details from my visual diary from the time.

Pages from my visual diary of the time shows the reference images I begin this process from.
Pages from my visual diary of the time shows the reference images I begin this process from.

The images from these pages reflect the process of thinking and creation to some extent. The main portrait shoot took place in a beautiful nectarine orchard and on a stud farm in Paarl where I brought my models (family members and friend) along with specially selected “props”. I shot the series on my twin lens Mamiya C3.

Images from my visual diary of the time show contact sheets, test strips, notes and sketches.
Images from my visual diary of the time show contact sheets, test strips, notes and sketches.

I exhibited the series as part of the Month of Photography in 2008.

Details from my visual diary during The Debut Girls production.
Details from my visual diary during The Debut Girls production.

 

Categories
Women I've Shot

“The Housewives”, Private Commissions:
This is Helena

(Note: “The Housewives” was a term I fondly coined in 2006 after I started getting shoot requests from private, individual women who became my clients. Many of the women who contacted me were married and in their mid 30’s and were doing the shoots as gifts to their husbands. The folder in my archives is still called this and so I’ve stuck to it, in part just for the irony: most of these women are not “housewives” at all, but strong independent and forward thinking women who I have had the honour of documenting.

All are private commissions and the demographic has changed substantially over the years. Some I’m still in contact with, others I’ve totally lost contact with, some have become friends, some may wish not to have their real names used, others don’t mind, some may have their faces obscured for privacy reasons, others have generously shared their experiences of being photographed.)

This shoot with Helena took place on an overcast day in 2011 at Glen Beach in Camps Bay. She had got in touch with me and had done a casting for Playboy just prior to her shoot and had decided she really wanted to do this for herself no matter if it was for the brand or not. Helena dropped me a message with some memories from the shoot years later…

I’ve had to think way way back to this shoot & all it meant to me.
Gosh it feels like a lifetime away, but I do remember that just for one day I wanted to feel like one of those beautiful human beings, when you page through a magazine, I always thought they must have the perfect life, look how beautiful they are, never did I think that our images would actually look amazing & that it was actually me in the image!

To this day I am so very proud of this shoot, I was out of my comfort zone. I would do it in a heartbeat again.

My body has changed immensely, but I am more proud of it today than wat back when. I’ve beaten cancer, hardships I wish on no one, I’ve completed some of the toughest races out there, I am 40 years old now & by far the most comfortable & proud of the woman I am than ever.

I do not train as much, but I have learned that beauty shines from within (as corny as it may sound).

Categories
Women I've Shot

MODEL PORTFOLIO: With Amber

I shot this swimsuit story with Amber in 2013 at the Newlands Reservoir around the corner from Rhodes Memorial.

Categories
Women I've Shot

“The Housewives”, Private Commissions:
This is Ilse

(Note: “The Housewives” was a term I fondly coined in 2006 after I started getting shoot requests from private, individual women who became my clients. Many of the women who contacted me were married and in their mid 30’s and were doing the shoots as gifts to their husbands. The folder in my archives is still called this and so I’ve stuck to it, in part just for the irony: most of these women are not “housewives” at all, but strong independent and forward thinking women who I have had the honour of documenting.

All are private commissions and the demographic has changed substantially over the years. Some I’m still in contact with, others I’ve totally lost contact with, some have become friends, some may wish not to have their real names used, others don’t mind, some may have their faces obscured for privacy reasons, others have generously shared their experiences of being photographed.)

I met and photographed Ilse in 2009, just before I got my own studio so this shoot was done while I was part-time teaching at the Ruth Prowse Art School studio. Illicitly.
Ilse was great to work with, so body confident and we got through about 6-7 looks during her shoot. Ive selected a few and added them here. They were quite diverse: from more romantic and bedroom-y to dramatic B&W with a bondage feel.