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This week is a guest-blog from White Purls. The best way to work a hat into your Pin-Up stylings.

White Purls first started catching my eyes over on Instagram.  I kept noticing delicate pearl pillbox hats here and there on my feed, and thinking to myself “oooo so cute!”.  It wasnt until one of my most favourite of feeds the Chicago Chic Blog (by siren Rachel Jensen)had topped of one of her dreamy looks with one of these pillbox cherries (Official name of this piece is Darla) that I…

What my new logo has to do with Drummer's Gurning

I’m so excited to share with you all that my new logo is finalised this week. I decided I would reveal the concept behind it all in an entire blog post. That’s just how excited I am. This marks a milestone on the eve of some more exciting changes for me. Read on to find out more.

Who Made It?

Finding the right graphic designer is part of the puzzle that is often overlooked in my opinion. In the…

LIVE Vintage Event Broadcasting This Weekend.

I love working with the Britian Does Vintage Team.

At all of their events, you can expect to see a great mix of vintage, repro, and custom made.  In addition to all of that, your shopping is usually accompanied by vintage music, and then can also be punctuated with some kind of great refereshements.

I go there to take pictures of people, to meet visitors, stall holders and of course to bag a few…

Lets take a look at the Top 7 Vintage Holidays for 2016 from Guest Blogger Colin Brown

I absolutley love travelling.  Its something that has taken a bit of a ‘back-seat’ over the last few years as I work on the business.  Prior to seting things up though, I was quite the adventurer.  I believe strongly in the restorative power of travel, and I totally love the things you end up learning about yourself when you wonder around our planet and throw yourself into new places.  I have to…

Buzztastic Headshots: Victoria Flemming

“Do you know Victoria?”

“Y’know Victoria?”

“Yeah…. Like Buzztastic”

I swear, for the last 8-12 months these phrases were popping up in so many random conversations for me. We knew all the same people, everyone kept telling us separately that we’d really get on together, yet, we had never actually met in person.

I attended one of Victoria’s great webinars co-hosted with Jo Davison as part of their…

This week I have a fab Guest-Blog from Andrew & Pete on How To Market your Vintage Business

I’ve known Andrew and Pete for a few years now.  I’m the photographer responsible for their (partially famous) blown up Headshots, and they are responsible for a lot of my marketing and branding tricks.  What always stands out for me about these guys is that they never EVER aspire to become the intimidating marketing people that the small business dreads.  They go out of their way to constantly…

May I introduce you to glamourpuss….

Amber Von Tassel!

Believe it or not this was one of Amber’s warm up shots. Pro or what?

To get the ball rolling I asked Amber what got her into pin-up and Vintage life.

“When I was really young – about 12-13, I remember seeing on TV, I think it might have been Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and I remember thinking how beautiful women were in the 50’s.Then when I got a bit older I was obsessed with googling pinup Art, pinup images, and then I realised even later on when I was around 18 that I could actually turn this obsession into a career, by becoming a pin-up myself.”

AMBER’S EARLY PIN-UP PICTURE

“So I changed my own image.  I started dressing in a pin-up style, and just started doing a bit of TF work (Time For Print work) as a model, slowly getting some experience.  Then it opened up for me really. I loved it straight away.  To the point where its my lifestyle now, its not a job, its just how I live my life.”

We then got to talking about musicals and our mutual love for old hollywood in general.

Amber brought up the original Annie film.

“Do you know the part where they go to the Movies? I remember seeing the sparkly showgirls singing and dancing from being very little and being completely entranced by them.  I was so excited by this.  We didn’t have any real reference like this in pop culture until maybe Geri in the Spice Girls when she began dressing a little bit pin-up, after they had become really big.”

Here’s that number…

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvqtqu_annie-1982-let-s-go-to-the-movies_shortfilms#.VtSiItBUpps.wordpress

Me: So tell me a little bit more about moving from pin-up dressing up to becoming a model then.

“Well first I started Burlesque.  I got into that before I got into modelling believe it or not.  I never thought I’d be a model.  I never crossed my mind that it was something I could ever do.  When I started doing burlesque, I started doing the promo shoots in my outfits, so I’d meet with photographers and they shoot my costumes.

When I got involved with the Headline Honeys, my workload shot up straight away.”

Me: Tell me about the posing then – did you find that you simply isolated a pose from your burlesque routine as poses, or did you find that you felt the whole thing came to you much more naturally?

“I did my homework. I did a lot of research, I looked to the stars like Dita, and I’m always looking for inspiration from all kinds of places.  Like just last night I saw something on netflix where there was a nurse in a latex outfit sitting on a giant hypodermic needle.  So now I have that image floating around in my head as inspiration, that I want to recreate.

I also think its really important to learn from past mistakes.  So I will look over past shoots and cringe a little bit at some of my work.  But then I think to myself that I now know that that angle is not so good for me, or this way is wrong.”

Me: This is a great thing to point out here!  Everyone has certain angles, and certain colours and poses that aren’t right for them.  I say this to all of my clients all the time.  Its great to hear even you say this.

“Absolutely. I often go into a shoot with a certain idea for a pose, and then I look at it after and I have my face at a funny angle, but now I move around in each pose to get as much as I can from it before going to the next.”

Me: A Ha! That the sign of a true pro! A great pace of fluidity!  That comes only with time.

Own that booth!

Another cut-glass shot.

Chillin’ in the booth

I simply had to keep this shot in. I loved that these two guys remained distracted by the cakes!

Frosty Window

Mid chatter – but it looks good

Butter doesn’t melt… Baby!

A girl needs cake when she is interviewing.

Amber settling into our super quick shoot after the interview

  A:”Well I was a beginner too, I’ll get one of my photo’s from my first pin-up session for this blog to show everyone.  I had black hair and betty bangs.”

Me: OMG! yes we’d all love to see that.

A:”I was still so nervous then, and very VERY aware of my body.  Like I didn’t own it.  I had just started burlesque.  And I still had that awkward teenager thing going on.”

Me: Wow that’s so brave!

A:”I decided I wanted to just push through it.  It was completely for me the whole way.  I wanted to get to the point where I felt comfortable as me, as a performer and as a model.”

Me: “Had you performed as a child at all?  Where had this drive come from?”

A:”Yes – I had danced right through childhood, and then before I did hairdressing, I did performing arts at college.  I had always been a performer, but I had never found my niche.  At college I would cringe at musical theatre, I never wanted to be in the movies, I always loved drama, and dance.  But it had always given me lots of confidence and its crazy to think how its come together for me.

I’m not the greatest dancer, but I love it, and I love being on the stage.

Showing restraint at the counter.

My unicorn burlesque show is completely off the cuff, I like to adapt it to how the audience is on the night, and change things for the stage shape.  I love the lack of formality in it all.”

Me: “Do you think there is a certain pin-up state of mind?”

A: “Its a way of life.

Even if you can’t be bothered and you are feeling rubbish, you’ve gotta do your wings, put your lipstick on, fill your eyebrows in.

Like today.  I’m having a can’t be bothered hair day.  But I’ll still roll my fringe and put my headscarf on. Or, I’ll set my hair.  If I can’t be bothered to do that then I’ll find something else to do.

I find today people don’t make an effort as such.  You can make an effort to look effortless.

I never do it for anyone else.  I really don’t give a stuff what anyone else thinks.  Its always just for me.  I’ve had to dash out for petrol before with my hair setting in pin curls before a show, and I’ve been asked if I was headed out for a fancy dress party!  I always say to anyone aiming for a certain look, to watch tutorials online.  Practice makes perfect.  Don’t expect to get it right first time, it does take getting used to.”

Mid-Giggle between shots.

Me: “What is your current biggest dream?”

A: “My biggest dream is to perform in Vegas.  So far I have done a few places in Europe.  I want to keep going with my pin-up work, and keep on building my fanbase.  And getting my hair tutorials channel working better for me.”

Me: “What do you do on your toughest days?”

A: “full face or make up on/roll my hair/tightest wiggle skirt on/smile through it/post a selfie on Instagram/take control of my attitude.”

You can find out much more about the delightful Amber von Tassel by heading straight to her website:

www.tasselandtease.com

This interview was conducted in a great vintage inspired cafe in the heart of Newcastle where we nattered over tea and cakes, then shot the pictures that have been featured within this blog.  I’d like to thank the team at Patisserie Valerie for accommodating us.

Thanks Patisserie Valerie!

The Sensational Pin-Up Girl 101 Giveaway is Now OPEN! - Good Luck.

I’ve decided that with V-Day approaching us, it’s high time for a little self-love.  I have always hated the hallmark holiday.  Even now, in my engaged status, we celebrate in anarchist style by maybe going out to dinner (or spending quality time) around March or January.  But this aside, it doesn’t mean that the pin-up in me cant enjoy the season by spreading a bit of love around by giving…

I asked expert Belinda from Arttia Creative to give her top tips for 2016 to Vintage Businesses on SEO. Here's what she recommends...

I asked expert Belinda from Arttia Creative to give us the skinny on the 2016 SEO trends as she sees them for the Vintage-based business.

Belinda is a Creative Consultant and a genius when it comes to brand building with SEO and Creative Content.  I find that there are usually two camps when it comes to the technical stuff like this: Camp A the ones who are happy to let the experts do it for…

I'm looking at Viral phenomenon Hilda. How does she make you feel?

A few weeks ago I shared a viral post about pin-up Hilda on my Facebook Page.  The insights went CRAZY! And I was fascinated by this.  Why Hilda, what is it about her over all my other pin-up stuff.  It turns out, Hilda is currently seriously trending online right now.  So I’ve been musing on this.  Here I am supping on my green juice, always trying to portray a ‘put-together’ and less clumsy…

What to expect from product photography

Many of the largest brands who sell online these days invest the necessary large sum needed to set up their very own photographic department. For my alumni in photography it has almost become a right of passage to intern and be employed in one of these departments.

After a period of time the friends I know quickly become divided into two groups: The ones who enjoy the regularity of the corporate…

Guest Blogging in 2016

It was around this time last year I was reading a lot of techie pieces and predictions about how the saturation of ‘Guest Blogging’ was sure to die in 2015.

Well my geek friends, you got it wrong, didn’t y’all!?

Well actually, truth be told, I think I got the wrong end of the cyber stick. It was these types of predictions that set me off on a Skywalker style quest to understand the dark art of…

I can recall a Wedding Photographer I assisted for way back who took about two years to get her own Wedding album made. I know a builder whose wife has regularly threatened to call a competitor to build her dream house. I think the rule applies across the board for the SME.

So, getting my own refreshed Headshots has been on my To Do list for Waaay longer than I care to admit. Naturally, I wanted to have a vintage pin-up look to my work:

I called upon a dear friend of mine who is a fashion photographer and MUA to perform the task.  Many people ask me, “Laura, who on earth will you ask to shoot your Wedding?”.  In this case, my good friend Liz Rose Ridley

is beginning to strike out on her own in Fashion work, having worked in the industry for years now.  We always have a real riot when we shoot together.  We rarely have time to sync up our busy schedules and this was a great opportunity for us to mix a little bit of business with some much needed catching up (as can be seen from my motor mouth gossiping above).

Here’s what we shot:

Picture

I’m wearing trousers I recently made myself (without a pattern, on my 60’s singer).

This crochet mint jumper was given to me by a friend who got it from her grandma who was having a clear out (I’m the queen of collecting donated clothes).

Cocktails make me happy!

I promise you, there was no one there, this was us doing the laughter at the wall poses.

Working it in the shadows!

Giving it some serious sultry work here. Cool right?

  These pictures are now all coming up on my social media, and will appear on my new website which will be live in early 2016. I’m very excited about this!

I have to say it has been a while since I was in front of the camera, instead of in my usual spot (behind the viewfinder).  Now given that I’m very used to giving out directions on how to flatter any body shape, I’m relatively versed in how to pose myself by now. But still, it was a great reminder for me to feel that level of exposed “on-show”, even in such a friendly environment.

This got me to thinking empathatically about the experience of my clients again, and that felt great. Again, I knew first hand what it was like to feel a little unsure of how the camera was reading these angles I was holding with my body. Were they really going to work? The second twin in my Gemini self was answering back “of course Laura! They always do!” But I knew that clients would not always have the benefit of that second more knowledgeable and trustworthy twin.

Then again, these waves of the first hand client experience came upon me again during my little headshots tryst. Firstly in the anticipation, the wait for the images. As I have already sai, Liz is super busy. She is a single lady, and in fashion – does it get any busier? We shot together back in October time, and I haven’t had any real need for the images till the new site which isn’t coming till the first quarter of 2016. So we never really agreed a deadline. Ever the superstar though, Liz got the retouched work back to me in about 2-3 weeks.  During that time I found my mind going to questions like “hmm wonder how I’m really gonna look in that shot?” Or “that set we did when I was standing there, was Ireally isolating and holding this muscle right?”. I found I pestered her too much than I needed to with stupid texts about photoshop geekier you. I got replies along the lines of “yes my dear, of course I’ve done that.” Or “stop worrying mate!”.

Loosely translated, I think you can compound my geeky anxieties into much bigger ones when you have a client who has never been photographed as much (or ever before). Then layered on top of this is the added topping of not fully understanding the true capability of the magic of lighting and all the other behind the scenes joy of professionalism: Location Scouting; Make Up, Styling, Hair, Crew, Retouching, production nuances designed to fit a client briefing.  What’s more to weigh on top of this and cram it all down a little you have of course INVESTMENT.  When money is on the table, anxt will increase exponentially.

I tell you, the next time I find myself uttering “sheesh dude chillax” after I hang up a call to a stressed out client (c’mon we all do it) I will eat these words and think about my stress head texts to Liz.

If it’s been over 2 years since your last headshots, then let me tell you nicely honey “they’ve expired!”. Think of sour milk, yup, that’s your headshot.  What about the rest of your commercial photography on your site? Is that sour too?

You can meet me for a no obligation chat over coffee face-to-face, or on Skype. Let’s talk about any hang ups you have, your needs and get your photography for you rocking for 2016

Interview with Tattoo Artist Kayley Henderson

There are many Pin-Up fans who are also inked, and then there are many tattoo fans who love the art of pin-up, burlesque and the Vintage world. Just what is that all about? Where did it stem from and why?

Kayley and I “settlin’ down” into our interview.

Yes, these are the kinds of things I ponder on when I’m planting my bulbs for next years springtime vintage fans! Believe me, I’m a real geek…

So, you know you talk to yourself, but HOW you talk to yourself says WAY more. Find out here.

I made a New Years resolution this year when I committed to using technology a lot more “on my terms”.

I’m pleased to say this is something I have stuck to. I regularly tune into podcasts through my phone on the fly, and I have a strict filter on the information I let into my life.  It turns out that a level of ignorance does lead to bliss after all.

The other day, I dropped my guard, and I…

The anticipated collaboration blog: 'My Pin-Up's in Brooklyn Experience.'

Any Vintage doll that knows a ‘Winged Eye’ from a ‘Smoked Eye’ should know and follow Slapback online!

Renee and her team have a GREAT Instagram feed that regularly leaves me pruning a pout at their gorgeous reproduction vintage delights.

On my recent trip to the Big Apple, I had to pop in to meet Miss DiDio to tell her I thought she was rocking it.

On a very stormy day in Brooklyn I found the…