Nicky & Lee-Ann’s Photo Shoot

After the 31 May 2011 episode of Top Billing I was anxious to get my hands on the June issue of Top Billing Magazine. This was after I was enchanted and inspired by Nicky and Lee-Ann’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” photo shoot. It was during my lunch break when I finally got it on Thursday 2 June. When I reached my desk I went straight to page 14 to read about the shoot.

Being an armature photographer myself I was very much interested in studying the print quality of the shoot. What captured me and captivated my attention was the perfect use of lighting in the shoot, combined with natural light, which rendered natural tones of the couple and romantic atmosphere of the location, the Table Bay Hotel. I was very keen to see the scene of the deck where, on TV you showed Lee-Ann flirting with the camera and Nicky’s eyes adoring her face. In the magazine this scene is perfectly laid out and has the same sentiment as on TV. The combination of lighting and natural colour can also be observed in the magazine pictures with the diffused shadows and textured three-dimensional appearance of the objects in the scene. BRAVO camera crew!

Another scene that grabbed my attention is the shoe scene with Lee-Ann, where on TV the set designer explained how she used the shoes to make them appear to be little stars in their own respect during the photo shoot. What I like about this scene was the positioning of the camera, which was lowered to render a majestic appearance of the shoes. In the magazine there is one shoe at the background, which appears to have a lacy print design. The Table Mountain backdrop outside the window behind the shoe (while I don’t think it was intentional) upsized the shoe to give it a statue appearance against this background. Again, fabulous work! 

I was very much surprised to learn, in the mag, that Nicky is not a model. And there he was, so natural and flexible and confident in front of the camera. I was definitely fooled, during when I was watching TV, to believe that he is a professional model. And Yes, this question was asked in the mag interview.

This has left me with one more life debt, to find and watch the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” movie DVD.

Thanks to Top Billing for talking us through the step-by-step creation of glamour and lifestyle. I was greatly INSPIRED by the shoot.