Cover Story

COPIED

4 mins

COVERSTORY

BRIGHT Sparks

Photographer, Nathalie Gordon, welcomes the summer season with a series of fresh, bold beauty shots. Here, she shares the creative process with Scratch

summer vibes and holidays in Santorini inspired a collection of feel-good photos, conceptualised by hyper-realistic photographer, Nathalie Gordon. The London-born, LA-based creative is no stranger to seeing her work on the front cover of Scratch , and this month celebrates two of her signature, attention-grabbing looks on its 23rd birthday edition.

“My photography style is bright, bold and colourful,” Nathalie shares. “I honed this when I started shooting images for posters for my mum’s hair salon. When she wasn’t available to do the hair for my later photo shoots, I began to focus on faces and hands. It was then that I found a love for beauty photography, and carved a niche by shooting with a macro lens.”

The seasoned adventurer’s vision for this Scratch photo shoot was to ‘create a sense of place’. “My favourite destinations to party in summer are in central Europe, so I channelled the colours of Ibiza and the cool blue and white hues associated with Santorini,” details Nathalie. “The results are photos that capture the essence of a holiday.”

Choosing the right creative team to bring the ideas to life was essential, as Nathalie shares: “I have an amazing contacts list of stylists, nail pros and make-up artists in both LA and London. I created a mood board to guide the overall vision of the shoot, featuring options for lighting, the location, model, hair, make-up, styling and nails, and the team contributed ideas. Input from everyone is important, as sometimes ideas may not work on a certain model, or are too complicated to achieve in the time allocated. I like photo shoots to be collaborative efforts.”

You may be surprised to learn that the summer-friendly shots were skilfully captured inside the kitchen of make-up artist, Patrick Santa Ana. “The usual studios I use were booked – so we improvised,” laughs Nathalie. “I’m quite agile, so can shoot pretty much anywhere that is clean and dry, and there was a benefit to Patrick and his team, who had their kits to hand.”

‘‘Input from everyone is important, as sometimes ideas may not work on a certain model, or are too complicated to achieve in the time allocated. I like photo shoots to be collaborative efforts.‘‘

Nathalie hails lighting as her ‘love language’ and shares that she likes to take some risks when shooting a new story. For these images, she used the butterfly lighting technique. “It’s commonly used for beauty and portrait photography, and involves shining the main light above the subject’s face, pointing downwards,” she explains. “I’d never used it before but love how it complemented the skin tone of model, Cassandra, and enhanced the neon nail art design, created by Amber Studer.

“Lighting is the first thing I plan once the nail looks have been finalised,” Nathalie continues. “It can make or break an image, especially if it’s too dramatic or soft. A great nail photo is one that showcases the art fully and has a good composition. Hands can be quite awkward to shoot, so it’s important to understand how the human body can move, in order to direct the model to position their hands naturally. The nails should be kept central to an image; either side of the model’s face or centrally will draw the viewer directly to the nail art.”

Nail & beauty talk

“I created two distinct nail looks for this shoot, each with their own vibe,” shares nail stylist, Amber Studer. “The ‘neon summer’ photos feature a sheer pink OPI GelColor shade as the nail base, with playful pops of turquoise, pink, yellow, blue and purple, applied with a fine detail brush.

“The Santorini-style photos showcase a white Gelish Soak-off Gel Polish shade as the base, and I hand-painted blue patterns across each nail for a vacation-ready aesthetic. Each nail style took around an hour to complete. I tend to opt for neutral base shades for photo shoot nails, so that any art can really ‘pop’.”

Nathalie adds: “Where simple nail designs are present in a shoot, I tend to add subtle, small props, but for nail art that tells a story, I may incorporate props such as jewellery to enhance the visual. For the neon look, make-up artist, Heather Butterwegge, floated liner in an aquatic colour across the model’s eyelids to complement the bold pink ear that was an accessory to the story.”

‘‘You can tell so many stories through beauty and photography. They both afford powerful opportunities for expression.‘‘

Photo shoot tips

“For nail professionals keen to work on photo shoots or create striking posters, my advice is to dream up several concepts,” shares Nathalie. “If you like a specific photographer’s style, approach them with an idea you think they’d be keen to work on. Contacting someone saying: ‘I love your work, let’s shoot’, doesn’t make you memorable. It helps to be able to suggest other team members that can bring the vision to life.

“Communication is also key. If there is something you aren’t sure about, ask the photographer or rest of the team and always be prepared. It’s also appealing to photographers if you can work well under pressure, and at speed.”