The Stephen Jones story!

21 Mar

What do you do when you're at a dinner party and you find yourself seated right opposite a rather interesting character? Well, in my case you reach for your camera (which by the way is always with me), and you take a picture! What if that picture actually turns out to be a little candid marvel, and the subject you captured is Stephen Jones a legendary milliner? Well - you put your thinking cap on and start being creative, because when such an opportunity presents itself to you, you better recognise it! I did just that, and by the end of the evening I knew exactly what kind of Image project i would like to create with Stephen Jones . The difficulty I had to face, was to convince my subject of desire to take part in this little project.
Luckily, Stephen knows a good concept when he hears one, and therefore I didn’t have to work too hard to convince him . I started making some sketches to illustrate what I had in mind immediately the day after. Portraying a Milliner - it was obvious to me, the story had to be based around hats! It would’ve been rather predictable however and somewhat boring if Stephen wore some of his own Hat-Creations, because that’s something he does everyday anyway, and therefore this approach wouldn’t have been special. Instead by using a Snake as a metaphor for seduction is something special, and it totally makes sense when you think about it.
When Stephen and I met up again and I showed him my sketches, explaining how I visualised the story, he got it straight away and no further discussion was needed. At this point I knew I got his trust and he would allow me to do whatever is needed to get the image I desire.
Obviously, this wasn’t one of those portrait session when the subject turns up and you have 10 minutes to shoot! Oh no, a lot of planning and organising is involved to get it perfect, and one heavily relies on the team helping to achieve the image.
Now, that the ball is rolling and the picture is published (here on my website firs) hopefully the rest will fall into place too and some more creative collaborations will follow.

Armin Weisheit Photography

Armin Weisheit is a professional photographer and Digital Imaging Artist. Born in Germany in 1970, Armin grew up in a small town not far from Munich where he managed to remain relatively unscathed despite regular exposure to the fabulous 80s with big shoulder pads , Make up and Music - a brief period of ruffles on shirt cuffs soon passed, fortunately. Armin finished a 3 year hairdressing training and worked as a stylist for a salon associated with Kertu-Hair Germany, before starting his training as a Make-up artist at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He moved to London in 1993 and started further Make-up training at the BBC television. In 1995 Armin was working within London's fashion scene and was represented by the Agency Joy Goodman. During those years he became more and more interested in digital imaging and retouching, which led him away from fashion for a short period to complete a BA (Hons) in Multimedia and Arts at SAE-Middlesex University, graduating with First Class Honours in 2001. He started a Multimedia business immediately after, having taken on small jobs in the Music Industry. A few [...ok, quite a few] years on and with the experience of working for some producers and demanding clients, Armin decided to continue developing his passion of creative imagery , and went back to college. He studied Photography at LCC London and also assisted leading commercial photographers. Armin finished his photography training with “distinction” in 2008 and started working on his portfolio combining a broad range of disciplines including Portrait/Fashion/Beauty/Hair/Lifestyle and Advertising. A large-scale body of work titled “SPLASH", has already formed the basis of an exhibition in London celebrating 40 years of "COSMETICS A LA CARTE". Armin is currently involved in creating a further exhibition for Stephen Jones the Milliner, which will be accompanied by a Book. As a member of the (AOP) Assosiation of Photographers here in London, Armin continues his collaboration with designers, art directors and creatives alike - to capture his vision using High Resolution digital medium format cameras to please even the most demanding of clients.

http://www.arminweisheit.com

The Stephen Jones story!

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