Creating A Young Opera Singer’s Portfolio

CARLA COULSON CHLOE MANFORD 12

 Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

I loved every minute of this job, planning it, discussing it, dreaming about it, choosing the props for it and shooting it on the day!

Talk about a dream job!  To create images for the beautiful Chloe Manford and her fab sister Amy, both  young opera singers at WAAPA that evoke their favourite opera’s and they could use for their professional portfolios.

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 Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

You may remember some pics of Amy with the super cute peacock? Can’t wait to show more from Amy’s shoot too.

Luckily the girl’s mum was along on the shoot and was fabulous with a hot glue gun and loads of fern, leaves and berry to create the decoration of our ladder in the spirit of a Midsummer’s Night Dream in the above pics.

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 Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

A different mood and spirit for this pic.

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 Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

I love creating variety when shooting and when she walked in this beautiful dress she looked so young, fresh and stunning I couldn’t resist shooting her in this simple way to show off her divine personality and beauty.

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 Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

More gorgeous Chloe..

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  Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

A little Brooke Shields..no?

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 Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

Back to serious opera moments. When the wind swept through the windows she looked like she had stepped out of Flemish painting. I loved it..

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Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

More fabulous Flemish painting action..

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 Chloe Manford Copyright Carla Coulson

And we all had fun doing this pic.. we needed professional feather throwers from above and what an amazing job they did!!

Shooting Tips:

The above shots look simple but we planned the concepts almost 3 months in advance.

I searched for a beautiful location

Clothes were of great importance.

We storyboarded the ideas

Gathered the props, ladders, leaves and flowers, feathers, crowns,

A pro hairdresser worked on the hair and a fab make-up artist did the make-up

All photos were shot using natural light and oh I brought along my fan!

And the gorgeous girls brought their beauty and talent.. A HUGE THANK-YOU TO CHLOE AND AMY.

And their super mum worked tirelessly in the background… Thanks to you too Sallie..

I hope you enjoyed this shoot…It was tonnes of fun.

“An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera house.” Marie Callas

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Heather
10 years ago

Absolutely breathtaking Carla xxx

Christina @ Hair Romance

I love every shot Carla! What a beautiful shoot! x

my castle in spain
10 years ago

Brava Carla ! I love everything about this shoot, the ambiance, great walls and background and of course…Chloe…she looks absolutely stunning!
x Lala

Jessica Bell
10 years ago

Wow! So stunning. That last one, is my fave.

Josephine
10 years ago

Wow, so gorgeous! My favorites are the “Flemish” painting and the last one. I like it when she looks a bit undone and messy.

Peggy Braswell
10 years ago

so beautiful + i know it was a lot of work + well worth the effort. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

Stuart
10 years ago

Beautiful. Love the location and styling. You will have show me some of these great locations when I come back over to Paris.

S.

Kathy Schapals
Kathy Schapals
10 years ago

Beautiful…lots of shots to get the perfect picture. Thanks for sharing your beautiful work! Would you share what camera, and lens?

Tina Fussell
10 years ago

I love this set of photos. I’m a photographer also and I know the work that goes into setting up a location shoot of this type….well done!