Black pin tucked dress by Matinstudio photographed by Eliza Prichard

Handing my Photography Baton to the Next Generation

portrait photography, Black pin tucked dress by MATIN Studio photographed by Eliza Prichard

portrait photography, Black pin tucked dress by MATIN Studio photographed by Eliza Prichard

All photos by Eliza Prichard

My Dear Lovelies,

It wasn’t that many years ago that I was chasing around a bunch of little people I loved at the beach and the pool with a Leica and a Nikonos hanging around my neck trying to capture them in moments of joy, action, play, and laughter. 

They were my greatest photography joy, my nieces and nephews. I’m grateful to them for so much, for coming along on my photography journey, diving underwater, jumping down slides giddy with delight, doing handstands in the green sea off Positano, playing dress ups and being willing participants in the act of image-making.

Photography inspired us to play together and mostly they were as excited to see an image of themselves underwater, as I was.

Maybe some of it has rubbed off on them. The years have rolled by and one of those dear sweet people that I once chased around is now a multi-talented photographer and designer and just hours before jumping on a plane to Paris we switched roles. 

Black pin tucked dress by MATIN Studio photographed by Eliza Prichard, portrait photography,

Inspired by a special new dress gifted by the gorgeous people at MATIN Studio, I was photographed in a way I’ve never been photographed before and had the chance to see a subject I know so well (myself) in a whole new light. 

You see that’s the magic of handing my photography (baton) to a member of the next generation, to let her bring her story, her light, her ideas, vision, energy, hopes, dreams and rudder to the act of creating.

I love these photos, I love this version of myself I’ve never seen before, I love the way Eliza has captured my love for life but in a modern way that I’ve never been able to do. There is  a little Jean Loup Sieff vibes when he photographed Tippi Hendren and Alfred Hitchcock.

Inspiration is a magical thing, sometimes it just takes a dress gifted by someone you love, a sleeve, a row of buttons, an idea, a spark, a whisper of maybe and hours later something exists from that gossamer idea.

Black pin tucked dress by MATIN Studio photographed by Eliza Prichard

As a woman in my fifties I can’t tell you how much pleasure it is to hand the baton on, to let another generation have their time, their voice, their space, their creativity and to see it executed in such an amazing, elegant and original way. 

And like many women I’ve photographed over the years who have had the pure pleasure of seeing themselves in a new light, I too partake today in that same feeling of magic of loving a version of myself that I never new existed.

Thank you to the beautiful Eliza Prichard for this beautiful gift, talent, time and incredible eye and also to MATIN Studio for the dress and inspo.

Carla x

If you want to learn how to take/create your body of work and sell it online, join my Free Training by clicking above.

Mithra on the Streets of Paris

black and white photography, paris film noir, portrait photography paris, carla coulson, the bubble joy, mithra ballestros, portrait st germain des res, ile st louis, creative portraitsDear Folks,

I am so excited to share with you some of the photos I shot recently with the beautiful Mithra of The Bubble Joy.

This superstar collects and sells vintage deliciousness in her online shop known as Finder Not Keeper and she was a joy in every sense.

Cool, funky and fun and the ultimate pleasure for a photographer, she hands over the trust and was willing to play and play we did!

What a treat, a day in Paris that felt like I was hanging out with someone I had known for years and we had the honour of having a long her super husband Gary.

I am so grateful and fortunate that beautiful souls like Mithra find their way to my door and adore that we have so much in common, love for photography, beautiful things and life.

We roamed around Paris, drinking coffees and rosé (well just a glass) and Mithra shining her light for the camera and all the lucky passersby and folk we found along the way.

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A special shout-out to Miloufar and the beautiful boutique Yveline Antiques in St Germain des Pres which is our favourite antiques shop in Paris…

Please check out Mithra and her work HERE and follow her on Instagram HERE.

Yveline Antiques HERE.

 

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”

 

Huge thanks to Mithra for allowing me to share her photos with you…

Carla x

P.S. I have just had a shoot postponed so if you are feeling game and will be in Paris in July or early August I would love you to be my muse. Shoot details HERE.

Related Post: Wanna Be This Girl On The Streets Of Paris?

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Backstage Secrets to this Harper’s Bazaar Shoot

Dear Folks,

I thought I would let you in on a couple of backstage secrets of how I shot this recent Harper’s Bazaar story with the beautiful Heidi Middleton and her fabulous babes.

I didn’t have the luxury of scouting this beautiful property prior before packing my bags so I jumped online  to see if I could find any images to see the setting of the place. For me this is vital as it will assist me in knowing which lens to pack.

From the images I found on the net I thought the property was in a big field but when I arrived I was surprised (and delighted to see) it was actually in a village. This made capturing a big home like this from the front challenging because I was very close to the building.

Some of you may recall from my ‘How to shoot a chateau’ post that the bigger the building the trickier it is to keep lines straight if you can’t get far enough away from it.

Heidi was a dream! I think I have probably mentioned before how much I love Heidi. What a dream she was to shoot, her calmness, kindness, creativity and beauty. She was great and knew her property backwards and loved some particular parts like the beautiful ivy wall and we all dreamed of her being photographed on it on a ladder.

 

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Red Dress Series

  1. To shoot this photo I was on a super long ladder leaning up against the neighbors’ house in front! So the building wasn’t totally distorted I needed to be as high as I could or at least as close as possible to the middle of the building height. Shooting from a ladder is not my favourite place (yikes, did I tell you about my fear of heights) and Heidi was sitting on the balcony of the building.
  2. I used a 70-200m L-series Canon lens and my arms were literally in a spasm by the time we had completed the shot. I had to balance myself the best I could so as not to have camera shake from the heavy lens.
  3. We started out with Heidi sitting on the balcony and doing some more detailed shots and this lens meant that I could capture as much of the building in the image as possible including the turret, come closer in for a portrait and a vertical shot of her being playful.
  4. I couldn’t have done these pictures without a team. We had a super photographer with me and another assistant with Heidi and we took breaks as much as possible.
  5. When I look at the shots now I think we must have gone mad! But they were shot in a very short time. I wouldn’t recommend that any of you do this. DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO!

 

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Flowery Skirt and Top Series

  1. To shoot this photo we required two ladders! So the building wasn’t totally distorted I needed to be as high as I could or at least as close as possible to the middle of the building height. That meant both of us were on super long ladders. My assistant held my ladder as I had an extremely heavy lens and feared tipping.
  2. To have the variety of images you see of the ivy wall it took a while for me to get my ladder in the right position and then we were fighting against the light that was about to come over the turret (who wouldn’t want a building with a turret?) and straight into my lens.
  3. I used a 70-200m L-series Canon lens and my arms like in the pic above.  I had to balance myself the best I could so as not to have camera shake from the heavy lens.
  4. This lens gave me the flexibility to come in for a close-up and still get as much of the building as I could without getting off my ladder. We lost a lot of time moving the ladder even an increment.
  5. To get that skirt moving and add a little magic took a lot of yelling across the front yard as we were both so far away from each other. Her moving the skirt added a new level to the photo.

The last shot of Heidi and her girls were shot in a field of flowers (and required no ladders, yay) we spotted on our way to her place in the morning. This pic was taken just after the sun slid over the hill and I exposed for her skin which gave the little backlight in her hair but left the rest of the foreground in even light.

I hope you enjoyed these little insights into this shoot, it really was one of those special photography days you hold tight to your heart.

Sending love

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Related Post: Carla Coulson In Harper’s Bazaar

Paris Film Noir Shoot – Ibiza Girl

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Dear Friends,

You know it’s your lucky day when a gal like this beauty walks in the door.

The beautiful Linda Karlsson and I share a common love for Puglia, the lifestyle, the architecture, the people and the scrumptious beautiful food. And not to mention that she lives in paradise, on the beautiful Ibiza.

Gosh, there is so much to talk about we almost forgot to shoot! Like her heavenly villa on Ibiza that she rents out as a  sanctuary so folks can escape to enjoy island life for a while in the prettiest setting, she has created. The sanctuary also hosts regular yoga retreats so if you love yoga you might like to check out the schedule and get super excited about booking a ticket to Ibiza.

She was a dreamboat to photograph, all I had to do was frame and shoot!

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Hugest thanks to the wonderful Linda for sharing her beauty with us and the generosity for allowing me to share this shoot.

You can check out her Ibiza sanctuary HERE. 

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PS: If you are in Paris in July and feel like starring in your own Paris Film Noir shoot you can check them out HERE,  you can get in touch with me at carla@carlacoulson.com to book.

Related Post: 5 of My Favourite Portrait Tips

 

 

Paris Film Noir – Portraits With Soul

carla coulson, paris film noir, paris portrait, paris photographer, black and white photography

All Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

Dear Friends,

I gave myself permission  this weekend to go out and take the photos my heart wants to take.

The minute the weather turned to Autumn in Paris my inner photographer muse reared her beautiful head and said ‘hey babe, let’s go and shoot those pics that are rolling around in your head‘.

You see, I have a photography muse that comes to me at night, she wakes me up sometimes, prods me in my side and puts images in my head that I am yet to take. Sometimes it is so strong that I am frustrated the next day if I can’t grab my camera and go and shoot.

She’s pushy my muse, she taunts me, she teases me and she is the thing that keeps it fresh when I feel like my photography is as stale as week old ‘Tuscan bread’ (and I can promise you that is like a rock).

carla coulson, paris film noir, paris portrait, paris photographer, black and white photography

My muse put these pics in my head a couple of weeks ago and I have been busting to get them out of my head and on film (well you know what I mean).

I had the great fortune to photograph the beautiful Isabelle Thomas, the stylist and author of Paris Street Style and numerous others and she writes the very chic blog Mode Personelle recently and she loved the idea so we gave it a whirl around the park.

The pics came out exactly as I imagined… hmmmm….

 

carla coulson, paris film noir, paris portrait, paris photographer, black and white photography

A beautiful woman in Paris, part of Paris, one just as beautiful as the other. Sometimes un-observed, shot through a cafe window, running down a street, waiting for a friend, channeling Bridget Bardot and laughing hard, loud and unapologetically.

carla coulson, paris film noir, paris portrait, paris photographer, black and white photography

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carla coulson, paris film noir, paris portrait, paris photographer, black and white photography

carla coulson, paris film noir, paris portrait, paris photographer, black and white photography

All Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

So my lovely friends, I have created a new portrait shoot called Paris Film Noir, it’s unapologetically loose, it’s purely black and white, it’s grainy, it’s artistic, there is interference and reflection there is  voyeurism. It’s pure love and creativity.

If you feel like being the girl caught on film in Paris soon check this out.. 

“The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay, I heard the laughter of her heart in every street café.” Oscar Hammerstein II

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