by A day on set for a small independent magazine, and a rare, suspicious gap in the calendar
Genuinely productive day, which feels worth noting specifically because it happens considerably less often than I would like to admit publicly, spent mostly on a shoot for a small independent magazine that wanted something a bit different from the usual polished, overly considered fashion coverage everyone else in this city seems to be producing right now.
The shoot itself
A converted warehouse space near the river, genuinely freezing despite several portable heaters that appeared to be doing absolutely nothing structurally useful, and a stylist with genuinely excellent taste who somehow made the whole thing feel considerably more relaxed than any shoot has any right to feel given how cold everyone actually was.
Spent a good part of the day between takes talking properly with the photographer about how London’s creative industries have shifted over the past few years, considerably more collaborative, in her experience, than the more competitive atmosphere she remembers from when she first started out, a genuinely interesting observation I intend to think about considerably more before I have anything useful to say about it in print.
What I read on the way home
Caught up on the feed on the bus back, properly cold and considerably more tired than the day’s schedule should have justified, and there was a piece on the city’s small, independent magazine scene that felt genuinely well timed given how the day had actually gone, a reminder that this specific corner of London’s creative economy, less glamorous and considerably less funded than the bigger publications, remains where a lot of the genuinely interesting work is quietly happening.
There is something I genuinely admire about people willing to run a magazine on essentially no budget purely because they believe the work is worth doing properly, and today’s shoot was a genuinely good reminder of exactly that kind of stubborn, slightly impractical commitment.
Tonight, properly wound down
Bath, an early dinner, and genuinely no plans beyond that, a rare and, I will admit, slightly suspicious gap in an otherwise fairly packed week. Suspect this quiet will not last past tomorrow, but taking it properly while it lasts.
Spoke briefly to a friend who is convinced I do not know how to actually rest, and she is, annoyingly, not entirely wrong, though I would argue a bath with a properly good book counts as genuine rest regardless of how the rest of my week typically looks.
Tomorrow
Back to the usual rhythm, whatever that means this particular week, though I am hoping today’s quieter energy carries through at least until the weekend properly begins.
More London creative industry diary at Vivienne Pratfall, The London Prat.
The photographer, a bit more
She mentioned, between setups, that she had nearly left the industry entirely a few years back, worn down by exactly the kind of overly competitive atmosphere she was describing from her earlier years, and credits a specific, considerably more collaborative project with genuinely changing her mind about staying in it. I found myself thinking about that conversation considerably more than the shoot itself on the bus home, which says something about how much more interesting the people behind these projects usually are than the finished, polished images ever quite capture.
Asked if I could properly interview her for a longer piece at some point, and she seemed genuinely pleased to be asked rather than simply photographed, which I am taking as a good sign for how that conversation might eventually go.
The stylist’s genuinely useful trick
Picked up one small, genuinely useful styling trick from watching her work, a specific way of layering that made the whole cold, slightly chaotic shoot look considerably more deliberate on camera than it ever felt standing there freezing between takes, the kind of small professional detail that only becomes visible when you watch someone genuinely good at their job work through a difficult, underprepared situation in real time.
Already have a rough idea for how the eventual interview piece with the photographer might work, something less about the shoot itself and more about that specific, quiet moment of nearly leaving the industry entirely, which feels like the considerably more interesting story sitting underneath the polished final images everyone else will write about.
One more thing about the cold
Should properly credit the crew for keeping spirits up despite genuinely miserable conditions, someone had brought a flask of something warm that circulated constantly between setups, and there is a specific kind of camaraderie that only forms among people suffering through bad weather together for a shared creative goal, considerably warmer in feeling than the actual temperature of that warehouse ever managed to be.
Sending the message to the group chat now, before anyone can find another excuse to let it slide for a second week running.
Genuinely looking forward to the interview itself now, more than I expected to be when the day started as just another cold, unglamorous shoot to get through.
Setting an actual reminder to message her about the longer interview properly, since good intentions formed at midnight on a cold shoot day have a way of quietly evaporating by the following week if I do not pin them down somewhere more reliable than memory alone.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
