Beach Belle

Today is my 29th birthday. Well, I'm writing this at 01:22am in the morning so technically my birthday ended just under an hour and a half ago. But still, as a wee birthday treat to myself I am letting this blog post skip the queue! It is my birthday afterall :)

Being a photographer is not easy. There are so many people who believe that taking photographs is a just simply a click of the button and as if by magic their images appear before them looking all gorgeous and perfect straight out of camera. I wish that was the case but there is a lot of behind the scenes work involved. A lot of late nights and early starts in front of the computer. When that time and energy builds up it's so easy to get completely and utterly burnt out. When burn out hits, it would be very simple to set the camera down and not pick it up any time soon. Because of this it is so important to jump out of my schedule and my to-do list and head out with my camera and shoot entirely for myself.

And with that I am very very pleased and excited to introduce the results of a fun day I had recently with a bunch of my favourite people. Everyone gave up their free Sunday morning to do this and I can't thank you all enough.

The inspiration for this shoot came from a simple photograph of Marilyn Monroe playing on the beach. But where on earth would we find a vintage swimsuit? Thankfully we completely and uttery lucked out when I came across For Luna Swimwear, a UK based company (hooray!) whose aim it is to bring glamour, sophistication and femininity to the beach. I contacted them and told them my idea and they offered some of their swimsuits for the shoot. So I would like to tell everyone now that should you like the look of the swimwear in this shoot, check them out!! I cannot recommend them enough!

And without further ado I'd like to introduce our team and the results!

Our Team:

Photography: Carly Rodgers Photography

Model: Chloe Curran

Make-up Artist: Deborah Harper

Hair Stylist: Dyanne Sweeney

Swimsuits: For Luna Swimwear

On a final note I would like to point out that these gorgeous photographs were not shot shot on some gorgeous island in hot temperatures! They were in fact photographed on a beach beside the main road into my home town of Donaghadee in typical N.Irish May weather! Which is why Chloe requires the biggest medal on the planet! ;) xo