Shooting Rosie Thorn

Rosie prides herself on perfection at all times and in all areas of her life from her perfectly pressed frocks to her award winning rose garden. As the model inhabitant of Featherington-on-the-Wold, the lady chairwomen of the Women's Institute, the organiser of the church choir and the provider of the most outstanding baked goods that she provides for all the village events she asks for very little in return. Just the gratitude, admiration and teeth grinding jealousy that she deserves from all the other aspirational social climbers in the village.
(From Rosie's website)

And this is why I wanted to photograph her.

I already knew actress Eleanore Appleton, who tours Rosie around the UK in her one-woman-show, and when I asked her to help me out with a couple of photos, she very graciously agreed.

I had an idea for a shot - of someone creeping down to the kitchen in the middle of the night to raid the fridge. The kitchen itself would have to be dark and Rosie would only be illuminated by light coming from inside the fridge. Being Rosie, of course, she wouldn't venture anywhere unless she was perftectly turned out - even if it meant getting fully dressed just to go downstairs!! Hence Rosie looks immaculate.

Heather, my ever resourceful assistant, set about finding a location and all the props. The location was fantastic; the high-end kitchen showroom owned by John Lewis of Hungerford on the Wandsworth Bridge Road in Fulham. They were wonderful, giving us full run of their massive showroom with all our lighting and camera gear.

On an earlier visit I had spotted a couple of possible places to shoot, one for the fridge shot and another, in part of the showroom that they had fitted out as a 1950's washroom.

John Lewis' showroom had a large fridge which was ideal, but it was free-standing and not in the actual kitchen that I had planned to form the background. This meant that it would have to be photographed separately, and later combined with the right background in post production. To do this we erected a large white backdrop behind the fridge. Rosie was then photographed opening the fridge door with the backdrop illuminated behind her. Being nice and bright made it easier to cut out Rosie and the fridge from the background using Photoshop.

(below) You can see Rosie posing in position with the white backdrop behind her.

Although we took along four powerful Bowens studio lights, I decided instead to use portable strobes: Canon 580 EX II Speedlites. Because of their compact size, it would make it easier to work in tight spaces.

So the first Speedlite, illuminating the backdrop, was hidden behind the fridge. Another Speedlite was placed inside the fridge, to throw light onto Rosie as she opened the door; and a third light was on a high stand just left of the camera. This last light was bounced off the ceiling to illuminate the front wall of the fridge (without it, the fridge would have been a silhouette). The fridge was yellow, which was not ideal, so we fitted a blue gel to the front of the Speedlite.

All three flashes were connected to the camera by wireless remote triggers.

(below) Here is the final shot with the correct background added. The kitchen in the background was photographed later, elsewhere in the showroom.

While we were there we set up another shot in the 1950's washroom. The light coming in through the shutters was beautiful, and just added to the lightness of the image. Thanks again to Heather for tracking down the old washboard - brilliant.

Here are a few shots of us during the shoot.

Leigh is my key technical assistant and I am so lucky to have him with me. He makes sure that everything is up, connected and working while I liaise with clients and work my shots out.

(below) Heather found some old milk bottles for the fridge, but had to cut up gold foil to make the tops for them. She also brought various food dies to colour the water in some of the other bottles. Clever girl!

(below) Leigh, myself and Rosie (Eleanor Appleton) checked the shots on my laptop. The camera was tethered to the laptop so that we could check results as the images were taken.