Fashion portrait Shoot with Satara Ferriera

November 2021 wasn’t a great month for autumnal weather. Everyone was waiting for those lovely fresh sharp days with bursts of bright low angled early morning sunshine which traditionally lit up the trees and gave all those who witness it great pleasure.

Those early morning visual delights as the reds, yellows and greens of autumn burst forth in the early mist. Where mushrooms appear from nowhere as the crisp frost covers the ground encouraging us to draw our collars closer to defeat the chill and suddenly get obsessed with the idea of hot chocolate and rosy cheeks.

Well none of that happened sadly. Autumn was looking like a huge let down. Satara and I had been speaking with each other for months trying to organise our diaries, when there was suddenly a window and a November date was agreed. I was praying for bright weather, but was rewarded with days of drizzle as the leaves quietly fell without any frosty ceremony.

I met her and her mum Helen at Batsford Arboretum in the Cotswolds and as luck would have it, the sun also looked as if it was going to try and be present during part of the day.

So off we headed into the extensive gardens and sure enough, the first tree we saw was covered in red leaves bathed in sunlight. The first test for Satara was to see how she faired inside the branches buried under the leaves, which was also home to various insects and sharp twigs. Helen instantly started filming on her phone as her daughter was enveloped by nature and Satara really got into the swing of the shoot. Listening carefully and adjust her poses to work the patterns of light which played around her face.

We next moved onto a tree with yellow leaves and once again the sun decided to share some of her warmth, providing a gorgeous back light to the portraits. Helen once again was recording everything and while doing so I introduced her to the joys of reflector holding. She was a natural :)

And so the day continued as we moved from section to section around the grounds. Sadly the sun got bored and went to play elsewhere but we all still soldiered on, moving from bushes, to conifers, to hidden caves before returning the car park suitably satisfied with our days efforts.

This video will give some idea behind the scenes, however if you look around my portrait portfolio you’ll see the final results in much greater detail. More shoots with Satara planned for this year all being well.

Thanks to Helen for the extra footage and reflector holding.