Hearts, Daggers, Love, Danger. This Fine Designer Jewellery is something different. And so was the shoot!
When I took a call from Jo Taylor of Tootsievalentine Fine Designer Jewellery, my heart immediately started pumping. As she described her new jewellery brand and outlined the look of the collection, I was intrigued. Anatomical human hearts? ECG heart beats? Daggers and blood? All lovingly crafted from the finest precious metals. The whole collection is made from ethical and sustainable gold. Each piece is created from either recycled or Fairtrade gold, in 9ct or 18ct. Jo is clearly a master in the world of jewellery. Tootsievalentine was born and Jo is bringing her very own creations into the world with a huge explosion of glamour, luxury and love. Jo’s excitement and the sheer unadulterated passion with which she described her new business made me eager to see it in the flesh.
I met up with Jo for a coffee and to take a look at the jewellery. Hannah White, makeup artist extraordinaire, joined us. She really likes coffee. But more importantly she wanted to see the pieces too. Jo, Hannah and I were now forming an awesome team, creative minds whirring together. We worked on ideas for a shoot using a model to make these gorgeous, delicate, yet ballsy pieces of jewellery really stand up and be counted. It didn’t take long to come up with a plan and off we went. Jo finalised all the pieces for the shoot. Hannah went away to plan makeup and confirm the model. I took a few Tootsievalentine pieces back to the studio to play with for test shots. We were ready.
Two shoots, two looks
First day of shooting came. This was just Jo and I in the studio. We used a specialist jewellery lighting box to create a seamless white background. Perfect product shots for the website. These images had to be technically spot on and were a real challenge. There are four types of metal finish in the Tootsievalentine collection and it was important to make sure these were consistent. It was a full day, shooting hundreds of exquisite pieces of precious gold. Reflections and light on metal is difficult to photograph to say the least. With patience and love, we nailed it!
Our second shoot saw the studio filled with wondrous stuff. Our beautiful model, Scarlett, arrived with Hannah and her usual thirty-three and a half ton makeup kit. Jo arrived laden with the whole range of Tootsievalentine jewellery, all categorised and ready. Jo also has a fab eye for styling and took on sourcing the clothing for the shoot too – multi-talented! We played all day and I have to say, it was exhilarating. Everything came together the way the team had envisaged. I love it when a plan comes together. Have a look at what we did….
Last but by no means least, Jo Taylor. Founder of Tootsievalentine. Click on the name to read about the brand.
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