Natural Light, Natural Beauty...

Stephen took so many great shots, it was hard for me to narrow them down.

Looking for the Light...

I tagged along as Stephen took Ashlynn outside to look for some cool lighting.

Here he is taking some photos next to the garages behind Marion’s building...

...and here are the results.

Ashlynn said it was favorite shoot so far as not only could she wear her own clothes, she loved the make-up and relaxed feel of the shoot.

Test Shoot in Palo Alto...

Like in any business, networking plays a big role in modelling and led to Ashlynn’s first shoot in the US. After Ashlynn posted a photo on Instagram taken in my parent’s garden and tagged the location, she was contacted by one of her followers, an editor of an online sustainable fashion magazine, about doing a test shoot. Luckily, the timing worked out and the location was nearby at the apartment of Marion Madeleine, a Parisian make-up artist who did a wonderful job.

Photographer Stephen Sun didn’t mind me taking a few behind-the-scenes photos, although for the most part I left them alone and chatted with Marion. Here he is taking some shots in the hallway of the early 20th century building...

...and here is the result.

In the past he’s had to move Marion’s furniture to access her windows, so he was thrilled that the apartment across the hall was empty and unlocked and had lots of great natural light.

A Test Shoot in Haarlem...

Ashlynn was requested for an artsy shoot for make-up artist Carmen Gonzalez from Argentina.

The shoot took place in the home studio of Swiss photographer Violaine Chapallaz. Before getting to the artsy part, Carmen did some basic make-up so Violaine could do a test shoot with Ashlynn. Once they were ready to start shooting, I left to visit some museums.

I was a little skeptical about Ashlynn wearing Violaine’s son’s shirt, but love the edgy result.

Another Shoot in Amsterdam...

Ashlynn had one other test shoot in January, this time with Dutch photographer Yorick Nube in Amsterdam. I always research each proposed photographer. This time I found something I didn’t like: a blog of young models in provocative poses.

I agreed that Yorick could photograph Ashlynn as long as I stayed for the entire shoot and none of her photos were to ever be placed on his blog. He agreed and took some nice, simple shots of her without make-up and using only the natural light in his apartment.

Ashlynn in B&W...

One day after school, Ashlynn and I headed down to Rotterdam to meet with photography student Demi van der Starre for a B&W shoot as part of her senior project. For the first time, Ashlynn wore a few individual fake eyelashes. I didn’t think to ask Demi to take a few shots without the heavy make-up which was unfortunate as Marjolein of Dune Agency said she couldn’t use these photos for Ashlynn’s portfolio because they aren’t natural.

I’m starting to see that it’s not just models that struggle in the fashion industry due to the high amount of competition. I have no idea how young photographers, stylists or make-up artists can actually make the jump from doing free work to being able to make a steady income considering schools are always cranking out another batch of new photographers, stylists and make-up artists.

On Location in London...

After another visit to IMG for new polaroids, Ashlynn and I set off for some lunch and shopping. Unfortunately, I missed a message that another test shoot had been arranged, so we had to scramble to get to the eastern edge of London. Luckily the photographer, Ines Zele, newly relocated from Australia, was understanding. Unfortunately, after dragging clothes around unnecessarily to other shoots, we didn’t have a change of clothes with us. This was a good lesson that models often don’t have a lot of advance notice and should always be prepared. As you can see, this shoot was very urban.

Ashlynn’s definitely good at showing some attitude!

A Shoot with Veronica...

On our last day in London, Veronica wanted to take some photos of Ashlynn. After enjoying a breakfast at an old-fashioned diner, we found an iconic phone booth near the train station, the perfect setting to capture some cool shots.

Natural Apartment Lighting...

Afterwards, we headed back to Markus’ apartment where he shot Ashlynn using only natural light. His dog was confused why Markus couldn’t play.

Can only assume that Markus wasn’t pleased with how the window shots turned out as I never saw any.

This simple backdrop, however, had interesting results.

Pulling Ashlynn’s hair back and adding lipstick definitely had a dramatic effect.

Afterwards, we visited a vintage shop that Markus recommended where I found a sparkly evening dress for the Marine Corps Ball and we had a yummy lunch. Then we went to the IMG London office to meet Luis Domingo, Ashlynn’s account manager. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Veronica spent the day on a photo safari.

Check Out Those Burberry Shoes...

The next day, I took Ashlynn to Hackney for a test shoot with Markus Lambert. A former hairstylist, Markus turned to photography about six years ago; he kept Ashlynn’s hair simple with no make-up. The clothes were from Zara and H&M; it hadn’t dawned on me before meeting him that photographers return the clothes after a shoot, but of course it makes sense. I had originally intended to leave Ashlynn, but ended up walking around the neighborhood with them as Markus took these cool shots.

The one item here that Markus owned were the shoes: £1,700 hand-painted Italian leather stilettos from Burberry. Ashlynn thought they were wonderful, but only wore them for this one shot.

I was very impressed with how quickly Markus worked; he knew what he wanted, got it and moved on to the next shot.

I love how her hair is in motion but her face is in focus.

Our Topshop Girl...

When we arrived back at the studio, Lukasz was busy getting Ashlynn’s hair just right.

Ashlynn didn’t really want us to watch, but she allowed me to capture Lukasz in action. She had a great time; it helped that she loved his music and how he made her laugh.

Check out those piercing eyes!

Jimmy was especially impressed how Lukasz worked with light as this background was actually white, but you’d never know it.

Just outside the studio was a derelict old ship called the Royal Iris from Liverpool. Built in 1950, the Beatles performed onboard in the 60s. Jimmy would have loved to have explored this old ghost ship, but I was relieved that it was just far enough away from the dock to convince even him that it wasn’t a good idea.

While we were busy out in Woolwich, Veronica took a train to Cambridge to visit David, who seems to have adjusted well to university life.