When we decided on the theme for the next issue of Parallel, I instantly had an image in my head of what I wanted the cover to look like. Throughout university, I loved playing with colour in the studio, and making really bright portraits. I haven’t had a chance to do it since: I don’t have access to a studio 24/7, I don’t own lights, and I don’t have coloured gels. But I really wanted to throwback to that style with this cover, so I borrowed some lights from a colleague and purchased a set of gels that I think I will get a lot of use out of.

I asked my friend and fellow Parallel photographer Charlotte to assist me, and talked to a local model I’ve never shot with before, Jade Ebelle Ifediora, about setting something up. Here are some of the photographs from the day, which weren’t used for the cover but that I love nevertheless.

This is the photograph that we went with for the cover:

As I had the studio booked, I figured I’d also use the time to set up an interview with local band Midnight and the Cosmonauts, who performed at our last launch party. 

For this photo I used my favourite lens, the 85mm Petzval, with a busy background. As a side note, I just want to point out that I absolutely love the tshirt Helena was wearing on the day!

Charlotte was helping me throughout the day, so she helped me test out the lighting and also, in the downtime between shoots, we got a few snaps. Here are my faves of Charlotte from that day: