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Tag Archives: Corpse Bride

Interview with a model – Lorena Fernandez

07 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Business, General, Photography

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celebrities, Corpse Bride, entertainment, interview, iPhone, Lorena, media, networking, New York, photography, social, Spain, Valencia

Morning

I have shot with Lorena Fernandez several times during the past few years and she is always the consumate professional and great fun to work with. Back in November last year I asked Lorena for an interview with “The Starving Artist” blog and Lorena took some time out recently from her hectic schedule for that interview. Hopefully this will provide some insight into the life of a professional model.

{The Starving Artist} Good morning Lorena – thanks for coming into the office

{Lorena Fernandez} Hi Colin – great to be here – can’t wait to hear what you have to ask!

{TSA} Haha – ok! Lets crack on then. So Lorena, I know you are from Spain, but tell us a little bit about your origins and why you decided to settle here in the UK

{LF} I was born and raised in Valencia, a sunny coastal town in Spain. My whole family ‘looks’ Spanish but my great grandfather was German and somehow the ‘genes’ were passed on to me, to the point that most people tend to think I’m eastern European! I always like travelling and did my last year of Uni in the United States, by then I had met my now husband (who is from Bristol) and decided to move here with him (my English is better that his Spanish, so I had a better chance of finding a job here!).

{TSA} At what age did you start modelling?

{LF} When I was 4-5 years old, my parents put me in a modelling agency, as a blonde kid in a country where most kids are brunette was quite beneficial for me…I did several TV adverts, kid’s catwalks and children’s catalogues and through my teens continued with the modelling, expanding onto acting (studied Drama for 2 years) and hostessing/promotions too…Moving to the UK meant I had to almost start from scratch, as I did not know anybody in the industry. Fast forward 6 years, and I would say ‘I’m there!’

{TSA} So with all this experience behind you what would your “Dream
Modelling Job” be?

{LF} Well, I have to be realistic…my dream job would be walking the
catwalks of Paris, Milan or New York, but I never grew those extra 2-3
inches, so my next one in the list would be featuring on the likes of Vogue
and Elle…but if I’m completely honest, I enjoy my job so much, that every
photo shoot, catwalk, music video or film I do is part of my ‘living the
dream’! I am very happy with the way my life and my career has turned out.

{TSA} What’s your biggest luxury?

{LF} I find this question a bit ambiguous…if you mean what the luxury
items I spend my money on, you need to know that I’m a bit – a lot – of a
geek, so I always need to have the latest gadget (there is only the two of
us in our house, but we have 3 iPads, 3 iPhones, 5 flat screen TVs, 2
Xbox-360 consoles, a Playstation III, a Wii, 2 latptops and a PC, which is
great for gaming sessions with friends!
If you are talking in a more figuratively way, my biggest luxury is being
healthy and having a supporting family who has always told me that with hard
work and dedication there is nothing I can’t achieve! They always make me
aim for the best, so I was a straight A student, graduated from university
with the highest GPA (I made into the ‘President’s List’, meaning I was one
of the 10 best marks from everybody graduating that summer) and in all my
jobs I tried to give 110% – nothing (and nobody) can ever be perfect, but
it’s fun trying to get there!

{TSA} I did mean figuratively – but great answer anyway! So, how would you
define your own personal modelling style?

{LF} I guess I’m what you call a classic look – long wavy blonde hair, blue
eyes and round face and body contours – so no surprise my favourite shoots
are portraits and I love modelling wedding dresses and ball-gowns on the
catwalk!
And I am a happy person, so I would say my best shots are when I’m smiling!
Of course, sometime I end up being ‘cliched’ into the same styles, so every
now and again I love doing jobs that push the boundaries, like the ‘Corpse
Bride’ shoot we did last year…it’s been great for me in terms of
networking, as everybody remembers those photos and gets surprised to see
that I was the girl under the amazing special effects make-up!

Thunder & lightening, very very frightening !!

Thunder & lightening, very very frightening !!

{TSA} Thanks for the “Corpse Bride” plug! Modelling is tough though how do you stay in shape?

{LF} Ok, to say it clear and loud, anybody who knows me, knows my love for good food! In Spain we have 5 meals a day, so when they see me eating that much in this country, I have to admit it must be down to good genes! But also the fact that I eat healthy food and use olive oil in all my cooking – that is my worst kept secret, I swear by olive oil! Of course every now and then I’m unhealthy, who can say no to bangers and mash or a proper full english breakfast! If I’m feeling too unhealthy, I drop by the gym (I say drop by, as I’m no gym-bunny and this is almost my last resort!). I try to walk for at least 30 mins every day and I’m a true believer that any night I go out clubbing, dancing all night must help too! Oh and retail therapy – good for your health to walk and carry ‘heavy bags’ for a good 4-5 hours and also good for your mind – I love shopping!

{TSA} Who do you admire and would most like to meet?

{LF} I admire people that pursue their dreams, that make the most with what
life throws at them and that enjoy the lives and careers – that’s what I aspire to!
I know it’s not realistic, but I would love to meet Leonardo Da Vinci, it amazes me how intelligent he was to make the most of his work, on a time in history where there were no computers or gadgets to do the thinking for you; I’m fascinated by all those ‘inventors’ who made amazing things – it was all down to their intellect and efficient use of the resources around them! Also, as a most trivial look at people I would like to meet, I would say Claudia Schiffer (my favourite model) and Craig David (my favourite singer).

{TSA} So what’s the best advise you have ever received? 

{LF} From my dad: ‘be the best, work hard, don’t let anybody tell you there
is something you can’t achieve, you have to believe in yourself before anybody else does’ – let’s say I’m trying to make him a proud dad!

{TSA} I think he must be proud! So tell us what you do in your “downtime”?

{LF} As mentioned in previous questions: I eat, shop, dance, play
video-games…and model! I enjoy my job so much, sometimes it does not feel
like a job!

{TSA} What is the most interesting shoot you have ever done?

{LF} I already mentioned the ‘Corpse Bride’ shoot (awesome make up, awesome location, awesome people to work with). Also some of my acting/extra roles can be quite fun, as you turn into a complete different ‘person’ each time – I have ‘been’ a nurse, a kidnap victim (three times, one of them as a vampire hostage), an art thief, a turn-of-the-century lady, an air hostess, a victorian maid, Princess Leia and a psychiatric patient, among others! Finally one of the jobs I enjoy most (for the excitement) is working as a grid girl in Silverstone, the cars are extraordinary (and the are revving,
inches away from you), everybody is in hight spirits and there are cameras
everywhere! My idea of heaven!

Bridal Fashion - Lorena F

Bridal Fashion – Lorena F

{TSA} And finally – Do you have any advice for those just wanting to start
out on a career in modelling?

{LF} This is not an easy world (the past few years have shown a boom in models and photographers) so you need to stand out and prove your worth. You have to be active, especially online where most of the jobs (and key people) are now. So:
– Build your portfolio, to create impactful images so that you can
make a name for yourself (and update it regularly).
– Network: have as many profiles online as you can, you never know where the next opportunity is going to come from. Join groups, forums and discussions; be seen and be heard.
– Show professionalism. You can be the most beautiful model around, but you will still be working with real people who also want the best for their careers, so you need to be polite, adaptable and presentable (take care of your image and health, is your best tool after all!).
– Practice, practice, practice. There is always a first time for every job, but the more you work the best you get at it…sometimes you’ll get offers for low paid or not paid at all jobs, but make sure to choose them carefully: a paid job may be more enticing (nobody likes working for free), but that unpaid job with prospects to publication will probably open more doors for you.
– And finally, enjoy what you do. If you are happy, it shows (and it’s contagious) – who doesn’t want to work with an easy-going, positive person?  And again this benefits you in the long run, as word-of-mouth will describe you as a ‘great model’, the one that offers the whole package.

{TSA} Sound advice there Lorena. That about wraps it up – thanks so much for
your time Lorena!

{LF} Thanks Colin!!

Lorena is a professional actress/model and you can see her work here, Lorena Fernandez and you can follow her on Twitter @lorena__F

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Bride with a difference

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Colin Crowdey in Bridal Photography, Photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Corpse Bride, Ebay, Make Up Artist, photography, Photoshop, SFX, SFX Make Up, wedding dress, Weddings

Afternoon

I don’t photograph weddings, but I do shoot a lot of women in wedding gowns. When I had my studio I was lucky enough to be on the same business park as Hazlewood Bridal Boutique our towns’ newest and best bridal boutique. It wasn’t long before I struck up a friendship with the owner, Jill, and we were soon collaborating on photo-shoots together.

We stopped shooting location based shoots when one of her best gowns became rather sodden during a shoot up at a stately home, you can read about that here

Since moving out of my studio I have been asked to shoot much more Bridal stuff, especially out on location and knowing Jill would baulk at the idea of loaning me a £2000 wedding gown for a shoot out on some disused building site of a location I decided to see what Ebay had to offer.

Ebay has a surprising amount of Bridal Wear stockists, mostly in the far east and China, but the good thing is they come with Chinese price tags too! So after stocking up on a number of these throw away bridal gowns I carried on taking booking for bridal shoots on location

The trouble is, there are only so many pictures of pretty girls in wedding gowns you can take, after a time they all blur into the same type and style of image. I did manage to shoot a lightly different shoot with a gown, see my previous post here, but what I really wanted was something that would be so different and so unusual as to be shocking.

So I came up with Corpse Bride, my own version not Tim Burtons – but there was a thought process behind this. I have access to a disused army base, it’s pretty run down, but it does have some pretty good shooting spaces. So my idea has this pretty girl in a wedding dress playing the violin in a derelict army base – but why is she there? She is actually a ghost and she is pining for her husband that was lost at war. He was stationed at the army base but on the eve of their wedding he was killed in action.

The bride, who (when she was alive) was a violinist and she has come back to the now derelict base to wait for her husband to return, but is destined to play the violin forever as a lost soul.

To turn that idea into reality I needed a fantastic model, a violin, and the skills of a SFX Make Up Artist (MUA).

After several months of planning and some set backs along the way, I secured one of my favourite models to work with, Lorena, a Spanish model who had the look, the hair and the confidence to pull this off. Our MUA for the day was Jodi, an excellent SFX MUA from Bristol.

Applying the SFX makeup to Lorena took more than four hours, four hours which she was sat on the second floor of an abandoned building, facing a hole in the wall (for light) and in the bitter cold

Lorena braving the cold to have her SFX make up applied by Jodi

As is usually the case with the English weather at this time of year, it started to rain and the skies got duller and greyer as the rain got harder. My carefully laid plans for the shoot were blown away as by the time the makeup had finished it was terribly dark outside and lashing down with rain.

Time to improvise.

Lorena towering menacingly over the photographer

Looking more menacing on the stairs

That’s not real blood in the background – honest!

 

Cowering in the corner

We had to curtail the shoot somewhat, it was deathly cold, the wind was blistering through the building and Lorena was covered in goosebumps. But we did one last shot, and with just a little bit of Photoshop magic it turned into this:-

Thunder & lightening, very very frightening !!

A little postscript to this story – Lorena decided to drive home still wearing the makeup, driving through Bristol city centre her car hit the red (on the petrol tank) and she did not have enough to get home – so she calmly drove to the nearest Shell Garage and filled up – still looking half dead!  🙂

best – Colin

 

 

 

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