The first Barnsley Fashion Creatives project was back in October and it was a brilliant day with a brilliant team! We now can show you our favourite picks from the bunch, which we ended up with lots of usable photos for all who was involved. We worked with local designer Spirit Original Designs who creates clothing and accessories, make-up artist and hair stylist Nicola Whitfield, Photographer Kevin Hinchcliffe and our two models Sammi Scargill and Megan Pickering and shot our photos around the Barnsley Colliery and Jakto's Transportation yard. You can look back on our previous first project posts here:

BFC Project Brief #1

BFC Project #1 Updates

BFC Project: Profiling the Team

BFC Project: Behind The Scenes & How To’s

We are currently organising our second project for a bridal themed shoot with another local designer. You can read more about it here.

All of the below outfits are on sale and available for purchasing, you can visit Spirit Original Designs facebook page to enquire about any of the outfits, jewellery and leather bags. Visit www.facebook.com/Spirit-Original-Designs-170351533010366/?fref=ts

 

Sammi was one of our models, her favourites are:



[gallery ids="4210,4209" type="rectangular"]



 

Nicola was our make-up artist and hair stylist for the shoot, here's her two favourites:

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'Fab team to work with, really enjoyed the day and everyone really mucked in and helped where needed. Trish was lovely and her designs are amazing, organisation by Hannah was done very well. Both models were amazing and I couldn't believe they hadn't modelled before as they both were really good and took direction brilliantly. Kevin did amazing with the photo's and my two favourite outfits were Sammi with the leaves and the pink & grey dress on Megan. Stunning, thanks team you were great.'

 

 

Here we have Megan's favourites who was one of our beautiful models:

[caption id="attachment_4164" align="aligncenter" width="500"] 'I really like how the coat drops on this photo, I think it shows off the waterfall effect really well.'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4163" align="aligncenter" width="500"] 'I like how this photo showcases the variety of rings on offer at Spirit Original Designs. I also think it emphasises Nicola's skills with eye make-up, I like the choices she chose and this is complimented in Sam's skin tone really well.'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4173" align="aligncenter" width="500"] 'I like this one showing Nicola hard at work. Out of the two looks I had, this was my favourite as it was a bit more grungey. I also like how you can see the glitter fading across the eyeshadow.'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4177" align="aligncenter" width="500"] 'I really like the colours in this dress and Kevin has done a really good job with editing the photo and angling it to get the best possible effect for this outfit. I love how the dress has a roughed detailing to hide my wobbly bits, but the belt still shows off my figure. I also think Nicola has done a great job doing a subtle look with the make-up to not distract from the dramatic colours in the dress, yet still managed to create the wow factor with the hair.'[/caption]

Barnsley photographer Liam Gilroy talks to us about styles, editing tips and photoshoot planning. He constantly surrounds himself by all the right people to ensure his authenticness in his photography and his parents old photos ignited that spark. Read the full conversation below and see some of his photos. Visit  www.liamgilroy.com



BFC:  What first attracted you to photography?

Liam: What first attracted me to photography was mostly how, when I was growing up, my parents took a lot of photos of me and my siblings just as people do now, except they weren't lost in the cloud for ever, they were actually developed and printed and acted as physical memories. I always loved that idea of archiving memories this way, and I think that's what's lead me into my love of capturing people, moments and atmospheres.

BFC: Its a shame people don't really print out their photos anymore. So how has your style developed over the time?

Liam:  I think over time I've developed a more earthy tone and started to focus in on a certain aesthetic that excites me, usually the more gritty and mysterious. I usually do this this now by creating more of a 'shot on film' feel, which perhaps relates to the last question. With fashion photography I think it's good to have models that have an uniqueness about them, which ultimately makes the clothing more desirable!



BFC: Following from your styles, where do you tend to get your inspiration from?

Liam: A lot of the time I'm lucky enough to work with people who express a theme in their products, so in those cases I can draw on that iconography and try to match that with a real world setting that helps to build a narrative.



BFC: What was one of your favourite projects that you've worked on?

Liam: One that springs to mind is a Fear and Loathing Clothing shoot we did for their Up The Dosage collection. We shot all the lifestyle shots around this huge abandoned house which was a lot of fun to play around with. We decided to run with some more unusual ideas, like building a prop satanic ritual in the barn, the location was a playground for photography. Here's a behind the scenes video of that shoot.
[facebook url="https://www.facebook.com/ArcadiaFilm/videos/1041575905887299/" /]

BFC: Oh wow that's so cool! What were your post-shoot processes after that?

Liam: I'm lucky enough that my brother Jordan Gilroy co-runs F&L and is a very talented designer, so we get to collaborate a lot and that extends into the editing of the photos, which we always agree on! Outside of F&L I still get a lot of freedom in editing (mostly in Photoshop). I think because fashion based photography is usually more dramatic, you get to take more liberties with colouring and balancing the image and it's seen as being part of an overall process.



BFC: What tips would you give about photo editing to those who want to make their own products look better? Maybe they only use their mobile phones, so is there anything they can do just to bring them more to life?

Liam: A big thing for me is not getting too caught up on gear, so I tent to find kit and software and stick with it until I feel like it hasn't done the job. For me I use photoshop, because you can always play around with depth by using layer masks or tilt shifts etc and play with the contrast a lot. I use a cool piece of software called CameraBag2, which has some awesome customisable presets for specific tones etc. Honestly, I think Instagram is great if you're working on mobile. For example, you can get a really great looking tone just by pumping up the contrast and and taking the saturation way down on your image just like you would in Photoshop. I think it's just good to experiment.

BFC: And last question, what tips would you give to someone who's planning their own photoshoot?

Liam: My advice for anyone planning their own photoshoot, if I'm qualified to give advice, would be to first create a good atmosphere, make sure everyone's on the same page about what you want to achieve and make sure that everyone's having a good time! Your shoot will benefit massively from this. Second of all I'd say try something different. With the exemption of practising before you shoot, try and do something new that you finding challenging.

We have our first Barnsley Fashion Creatives project! We have been in touch with Trish Evans from Spirit Original Designs who would like to do a photoshoot of her clothing and accessories and is looking for other locals to participate. Here is the run down of the brief with subject to changes as more details are confirmed.

At Barnsley Fashion Creatives, our main aim is to get people connected in Barnsley to work together and help each other out to further enhance our experiences and business. If you have a project in mind and not sure where to go with it, we can help. We can get in touch with the right people to get what you need, find suitable locations and help get it all organised. Feel free to enquire about your project.

Brief by: Spirit Original Designs

Proposed Location: Spring bank Farm (waiting on confirmation)

Date: October

Theme: Rustic, old, quirky, historical, woods

Who we are looking for: Models in sizes 10, 14 & 16, at least one blonde and one brunette. A Photographer and anyone else who'd like to participate. We already have hair & makeup.

Project is unpaid, all participants will get full use of the photos.

This is a fun project for people who are based in Barnsley to all help each other out and get their own use out of it as well, if you require some photos of particular areas that show your own work, we can get those done for you to put in your own portfolios.

If you yourself or if know anyone who would like to help out on the project please use the contact page quoting the brief and with any links to your work. All participants must be agreed by the project leader to ensure you fit the desired brief.

Whilst at the Barnsley Archives the other day, I found out about this wonderful event called the Barnsley Shopping Carnival. In the archives they had the booklets from 1910 and 1922 and found them so fascinating to look at and read through. These booklets were actually more like an entire book and properly bound. Inside were drawings, photographs, advertisements, all about Barnsley, shops, competitions and more.

The 1910 booklet was less illustrious and more text based, as you'd expect. This was the first year Barnsley held this week-long event and it wrote how other towns had also done in and Barnsley wanted to join in. The carnival meant gathering all the shops throughout the town and to work together to create a massive attraction to all customers new and old, they would host special offers to get them into their shops and also import some special products that could only be bought during this week. The main part of the carnival was the window dressing competitions, they had different categories such as Ladies goods to wear, Mens goods to wear, Goods to eat, Best outside decoration and Best novelty window exhibition. To entice the shoppers, they urged them also to take part in guessing who would get the awards and also written essays about the carnival.

The 1922 book had far more visuals and even the first page was printed in colour as seen above.It echoed the previous book but had far more pages as it had grown in popularity. This time, the window dressing competitions had simplified down to the categories Things to eat, Things to wear and Things to use, but had extra special prizes given by  companies if they had put any of their products amongst their window displays. The Barnsley British Co-operative Society is featured quite heavily throughout this book, advertising each and every of it's departments, right down to particular products. Here's a selection of images from the 1922 booklet. Can you imagine if Barnsley still did this?

All content from the Barnsley Archives.