Yve in Torquay

I mentioned in the story of the flowarts shoot with Ellie that I’d planned to do two shoots in Plymouth that day, but the other model had a minor accident and had to go get checked out, so we had to cancel. Well, that was Yve, aka Grieving Yve. But we rescheduled, and I was very glad we did, because Yve looks like this:

See what I mean? I didn’t really know a ‘pastel goth’ was a thing, but it is, and it looks amazing. Yve is also very likeable, and we got on well – I mean, the Pokémon gym badges on her jacket were a clue that we probably would.

Parking was a little tricky, but we found a big multi-storey car park not too far from the centre and sea front, which turned out to be rather delightfully tatty. I parked right up on the roof so we could make use of the car park itself to start with. The stairs down to the next level started with a little walkway built onto the outside, with extra steps to get over the wall – a bit unnerving to walk on, but a good place for some photos.

Down on the next level, things were a bit darker, but Yve is a pastel goth, so we made the best of it, with some nice results, I think. Definitely a more gritty look, but could make a good cover for when her album drops.

I tried using a torch for extra lighting for a couple of them, which made for an even rougher look, which I like.

That led us to the main stairwall for the car park. And car park stairwells are always special places. It didn’t smell too bad, compared with most, so we stopped for more photos where some nice light was coming in.

For the next one, I did a bit more processing than I usually do. I generally go for quite a natural look, with quite a limited amount of post-processing, and usually little to no ‘portrait retouching’. This shot seemed to invite a bit more work, though, to really bring out the contrast with the dark background and the one bit of light right on Yve’s face.

The exit from the car park took us down some steep steps, which we didn’t make any use of – it would have been in people’s way – but I did take the height to grab a shot of a gull sitting on a street light.

We made our way down to the marina, and grabbed some shots with the boats behind.

The area around the marina and harbour in Torquay is nicely varied. A little bit of park with palm trees gave us a nicely textured background for some portraits. Again, I did a bit of extra retouching on one shot here, to pull out the texture in the background and Yve’s jacket and hair, without making her skin look bad. I’d been watching a few tutorials on doing portrait editing, and while it’s not something I like to do much of, it was fun to try.

There was an empty fountain, so Yve jumped in.

I noticed the ferris wheel, and decided Yve should have a halo.

According to Apple Maps, the next place we used is called ‘Princess Pier’, and it does look like a pier. It also appears to be part of the harbour walls. But there were benches and steps, with all sorts of bits to use for photos.

When is a door not a door? When it’s actually not a door.

I’m not sure if Yve agreed with me about the fishing baskets being pretty and making a good background, or was just humouring me. I have to admit they didn’t smell pretty. “Stick your head next to these, and try to pretend you can’t smell them.”

What is it with me and stairs? I don’t know, but I do love getting models to pose on them.

At this point, Yve went for a quick outfit change – we found a nicely hidden space she could change in, and when she emerged, the leather jacket and shorts had been replaced with a classic Little Black Dress, but with an added cape. From Pokémon Master to Superhero, Yve can do it all. We wandered along to the area under Living Coasts for more shots (and a bit of refreshment in their cafe, too).

There was a bridge, which made for some good framing, so Yve could let her cape flap in the wind a bit.

At this point, I had the idea that Yve should cover her face with the cape. I thought it would look good. I probably should have mentioned that the cape was quite transparent, and I wasn’t trying to say we’d get better photos of her if she just covered her face up. So in half these shots she’s laughing at me for trying to get her to hide. At the same time, I’m laughing at how ridiculous it sounds, but in my head, the photos are going to look really good. I think I was right in the end, they do look good, but it definitely sounds bad when you’re trying to explain it!