Milan Stryja photo shoot outcome and pictures

Milan Stryja is a talented photographer who loves working with people photography, but who also looks for ways to combine the model and an exciting outdoors location into one great image. In fact, aside from consuming his fiancée’s fashion magazines for photo shoot ideas, he also admits to getting a lot of his inspiration from different locations. "It might be a bit unusual," he says "but I often look at a location first and think that, yes, this would be a great place for a shoot - and only then will I start considering a model for the pictures."

An outdoors photo shoot always carries the risk of weather not being quite right for the shoot. This was the first challenge Milan had to solve when planning for the photo shoot with one of the WannabeStar May 2008 competition winners - Taniamarie (Tania). He had a perfect location in mind though - a 19th century bridge in Burnham, Slough. The bridge, and the areas around it provided a variety of possible backgrounds and the huge arches would serve as protection from any bad weather.

The shoot took place early Saturday afternoon, and fortunately, the day of the shoot was perfect - leaving Milan with many opportunities to take some great pictures! He arrived on the location with his fiancée who would assist with the shoot, and met up with Tania who arrived escorted by her family, travelling all the way from Manchester. They were also joined by Mandy Spencer, a professional make-up artist from Luton. A perfect shoot includes many components - of which styling and make-up is an important one. Having seen some of the previous photos of the model to be, Mandy was impressed with the potential and gladly agreed to provide the make-up for the shoot.

With her 20 years in the industry, Mandy Spencer brought significant expertise to the shoot. Having initially been trained in England, she had then spent time is US, training with Estée Lauder and becoming a Regional MUA for them. Afterwards she worked with the celebrity make-up artist Daniel Sandler and was part of his team, before deciding to go freelance. Mandy has participated in numerous fashion shows and photo shoots, including Brides Magazine Fashion Show in the USA, as well as the up and coming new designers show during London Fashion week.

A location shoot provides many challenges for the make-up artist, but Mandy was up to the task. There were a few raised eyebrows though, when she pulled out her make-up kit. No wonder she could only travel by car - the kit was HUGE! Besides make-up, it was filled with brushes, combs, hairspray and all sorts of accessories - you never know what you need on a shoot.

As this was the first professional photo shoot for Tania, the team decided to start with something simple. A nearby field with white flowers was perfect for the idea Milan had in mind - a classic "girl with flowers" series of portraits. Mandy quickly provided the make-up - for the natural look she used MAC foundation, Bobbi Brown and Estée Lauder eye shadow and lip gloss. Milan arranged the portable studio lights to provide a crispy look for the scene and then proceeded with the shoot using wide aperture which provided a pleasant look for the portrait.

(c) Milan Stryja

(c) Milan Stryja

For the next part of the shoot, Milan decided to make use of the arching structure of the bridge and the team moved on to a location underneath the bridge itself. Changing from a simple dress used in the first set into something more fashionable, Tania also had changes applied to her make-up. For the remainder of the shoot, Mandy first created a Nautical look with MAC Foundation, MAC pigment and lipstick, Lancôme liquid liner, and then later on a gloss Dramatic look – using MAC foundation, Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick on eyes and cheeks, Lancôme eyeshadow, liner, and their new Juicy Tubes.

However, this part of the shoot soon proved more challenging! Without the benefit of prior modelling experience, Tania needed to learn the poses required on the fly. With Milan focusing on the composition of the pictures, Mandy then jumped in as an impromptu posing coach (see rightmost picture below) – with her experience from countless photo shoots, she was able to help Tania get started with the basics, and the shoot could once again proceed.

While some photographers like to “shoot” their pictures in PhotoShop, Milan has a much more purist approach – he really likes to compose the picture in his mind and through the camera’s viewfinder, rather than to apply crop and cut afterwards. Of course, being a graphic designer by training, he also has a good eye for form and shape, without resorting to excessive editing afterwards.

(c) Milan Stryja

(c) Milan Stryja

After shooting a set consisting of various pictures which incorporated the model and the leading lines of the bridge into some great images, Milan then proceeded to do some close-ups of the model’s face. Mandy’s fantastic job on make-up really paid tribute to Tania’s beautiful looks – something that Milan made sure to capture with his shots. Enhanced by the play of light from the Bowens flashlights (using a honeycomb plus a 60x90 as main light) and the wind playing in the model’s hair – the end results were stunning.

During the shoot the team also discovered that underneath the bridge is not as deserted as one would think. There was some traffic on the river and quite a few appreciative comments from the people in the boats, including some spontaneous applause. Also, the shape of the bridge really accentuated the noise from M4 - not the quietest of roads - sometimes making verbal communication impossible and forcing the team to switch to sign language a few times.

The shoot was then topped off with another change of clothes and some additional outdoors posing. The final photos used the river and the magical light through the trees as a frame for the model – bringing the shoot to a relaxed end.

(c) Milan Stryja

(c) Milan Stryja

(c) Milan Stryja

"All in all, it was an interesting shoot," says Milan. “We had an opportunity to try out various backgrounds and styles, Tania looked stunning in all her outfits – and Mandy’s work on make-up was absolutely fabulous! Additionally - I hadn't quite expected Thames to be slightly flooded, there was an inch of water underneath the bridge and we had to literally run away from the waves from passing boats a few times. This certainly added to the excitement!"

Tania was also happy with the shoot, and she loved all the different make-ups – something that really gladdened Mandy, given the effort she had put into the many different make-ups applied throughout the shoot. Mandy also looks forward to future co-operation with Milan in future shoots.

If you would like to see more of Milan’s work and the stunning pictures he has created for other models, please follow the link www.photomistr.com to his home page If you would like to get in contact with Mandy Spencer, to leverage her 20 years of professional experience – whether for photo shoots, fashion shows or even weddings, please contact her at: mandyspencer62@yahoo.co.uk

Should you be interested in participating in a photo shoot like this - please check out WannabeStar competitions - it's all FREE!