Project Isolation
Zebedee Models and Germaine Walker
How do you photograph someone if you can’t meet them? My awesome agent Germaine Walker put me in touch with Zebedee Management to take part in Project Isolation, a project that required me to do just that.
Photographing over FaceTime or Zoom I “met” three of Zebebee’s awesome models. First up was Jake. We dived into a totally new way of working, and a great fun collaborative process. I found that the restrictions from shooting remotely spurred creativity in me. I couldn’t use fancy lighting or complicated production, so I chose to simply concentrate on what was happening in the frame – to play with concepts and ideas and to be fully open to what Jake brought to the shoot.
Jake and his Dad got really involved in our shoot – they turned a bedroom into a wonderful white studio space, all monotone. This looked fantastic and really gave us space to experiment in. I think my favourite moment of all the shoots came when Jake picked up the vase he’d brought along and we messed about placing it over the lens of his cameraphone. It turned the lens into a James Bond style spiral – and I love the image that we made by doing this.
Brinston was my second shoot. As most people don’t have backdrop support systems kicking around their house he got his girlfriend and brother involved, they held up a bedsheet behind him to create our “studio” in his family living room. The photo I took of Brin looking out of the window I think captures how a lot of us are feeling during lockdown, eager to get outside, but unable to roam free.
Photographing Bailie was amazing, when I asked her to start dancing I couldn’t believe it, she was pulling these amazing shapes via Zoom. I’d sent her a few pointers after researching dance poses, but as with all the models they took my ideas and made them so much better. It was fascinating to hear how Bailie had been dancing all the way through lockdown, it made me smile to think of all the brilliant things people are still doing even though they are restricted.
Zebedee are an awesome modelling agency that solely represent people with disabilities, alternative appearances and trans & non binary models. Germaine Walker, my agent, has been encouraging a relationship between commercial clients and Zebedee for some years now in the hope to allow for a more balanced representation of everyone and anyone in the campaigns they are commissioned with.
