Something Special
SOMETHING SPECIAL ….
From something that started off as a photo shoot, 10 unique woman came together with Kessex Photography and Vintage Mandy Lou, to style and model in a shop filled with an eclectic range of retro and vintage clothing.
The shoot became it's very own belated international women's day! The idea had stemmed from Amanda and I coming together as two businesses and deciding it would be a brilliant idea to do a vintage shoot!
Amanda makes a lot of her range herself and is working hard into looking to expand in this side of her business, as for myself being a photographer I love the vintage look just as much and wanted to use some of these for my Masters Photographers Qualification.
With this in mind we made a call out for the ladies to see if anybody wanted to take part, we were inundated with over 40 women, but after sending out dates, and unfortunately some no response after their initial enquiry we got to our final fab 10!
We soon set up a group chat of course! This allowed the ladies to get to know one another at least until the day of the shoot, meaning we could also exchange information about the shoot and share our thoughts.
So allow me to introduce our fabulous 10, Julie B, Julie W, Amy, Rhea, Kellie, Lucy, Olivia, Danielle, Sue and Sarah-Jane.
These women came together on a group chat and suddenly the support for each other was amazing, everyone was a little nervous and unsure whether they would be able to do this, but these 10 built each other up, supported each other in moments of doubt, and the words ‘we have got this, we can do this’ were top of the list.
Excitement built nerves built, but they kept each other going, noting who would be able to help each other with hair and makeup etc it was truly some amazing… then they all met!
Then came the day Tuesday 10th March, all to meet at Battlesbridge, about 10.30. Unfortunately our lovely Lucy was not able to join us due to her little boy being unwell, but she was very much still there with the group in wishing everyone a great day, and we hope that Lucy will be able to join us the next time.
So our nervous 9 were there, Rhea and Olivia were doing hair, Amy was on makeup, y thanks for that is never ending, they did such a great job. Everyone was helping each other pick outfits from the amazing range of clothing from Vintage Mandy Lou, the buzz and bond between these women who were meeting for the first time was just amazing.
The idea was that we would have two outfits for everyone with individual and then group photos. The fun the laughter was infectious everyone looking out for everyone else, nerves disappearing as they owned their posing and modelling like professionals, even if the sky was a little overcast, windy and chilly at times, these ladies braved the elements in sometimes something that would be better in much hotter weather and stood there like the sun was blazing down on them without so much as a complaint, just loving the moment and the togetherness of it all.
The photos taken below are courtesy of Rhea and Amy, who took these with their iphones and thank you for allowing me to use these here.
As you can tell from the smiles of these group they really were having a great time and to be honest I did also, it became such an amazing bunch of women to spend the day with it did not feel like work, it felt like a photo shoot with friends.
At the end of the day, when I said rights that’s it all done, it was to a chorus of no we want to carry on! Going from those first tentative messages where people were a little nervous, to these confident women that did not want to stop, was a transformation that they had brought to themselves, they felt good, they looked good and it showed in every way.
And I forgot to mention the lovely Christine, who came along to support her sister Danielle and turned into iphone photographer of the year and had all of us laughing with some of her antics. Photography apprentice in the making, you never know :O)
So, I think we can safely say that we had a delay International Women's Day in Battlesbridge on the 10 March, these amazing ladies came together as strangers, empowered and help each other, and left as friends with a reunion already being planned for the summer.
A foot note and something that was gained from having all these ladies together, is that we tend to see all the beauty in others and not in ourselves. We fail to look in the mirror and see how others see us, gorgeous in face, heart and soul. So one thing that I have taken from this is when looking at others is remember that the person in the mirror looking back at me, is just as worthy of those compliments, not just from others but from myself as well.
Below are some of the photos from the day from Kessex, of these beautiful ladies, both inside and out.
