Posted June 29th 2016
I had been on a few photoshoots with my friend Vilija before, always both as photographers. However, I knew that she was also comfortable in front of the camera and thought she would make a wonderful subject for my close-up portraiture. So I was very pleased when Vilija agreed to be my model for the day!
We designed the shoot together, taking inspiration from the worlds of fashion photography and classic portraiture. Our day started early with some shots in a colourful subway before the Saturday shoppers arrived. We then moved to my home studio before finishing in the afternoon sunshine at the local botanic garden.
It was an enjoyable and memorable day that took us on a five mile tour of the CB1 area of Cambridge, and left us with a treasure trove of images that I still dip into often, many months later.
The shoot was also a great way to get to know Vilija better as an artist and a friend. She is herself a creative photographer, and our conversations have influenced the way I approach and plan my photography. We would soon be planning a second collaboration.
Here are a few pictures from the collection. I will publish some more in a later blog post.
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CB1 Photography 
Great shots Jim, Bobbie particularly likes the hat.
really nice photos Jim
Thanks, Jim and Steve. I look forward to publishing more images from this photoshoot in a later blog. Some of the pictures will have a slightly different style to them.
You’ve got a fun range of styles here, Jim! Indoors, outdoors, color, B&W, natural light, strobe… Looking forward to seeing more. 🙂
Thank you, Taylor. It was a great shoot that gave us the chance to try out several ideas, locations, and lighting set-ups. My next project with Vilija was more focussed, but I still enjoy looking back at this one, which was our first collaboration together.
This is a lovely collection of images, Jim. You’ve certainly captured your subject in a genuinely engaging variety of moods, but you’ve also mixed things up in other respects too and created a lot of additional interest across the set of pictures. I particularly like the backdrops you’ve chosen. The bamboo works really well and the figure viewed from above in the painted background to the first image is extremely intriguing and completely draws you in – great colour balance between the dress, the eyes and the mixed blues of the background in that one too. Nice variety of outfits across the collection, a couple of great black and white shots too – genuinely lots to enjoy: really impressive, Jim.
I really appreciate your comments, Neil. Thanks for taking the time to look and reply. Vilija certainly chose her outfits well. I usually prefer to process my images in black and white, but the colours combinations in some of these shots were hard to resist. It was a fun photoshoot, and I think we got some great shots. More to come soon.