A Glimpse Behind The Scenes Of A Joe Browns Photoshoot
It’s a running joke at Joe Browns HQ that whenever the marketing team head off abroad for photoshoots, everyone says ‘enjoy your holiday!’
We can confirm that although the team do have a good laugh, there’s a lot of long days, plenty of hard work and always a few unpredicted hurdles to get over on our shoots.
Lizzy, our photoshoot planner gave us an insight on what goes on behind a Joe Browns photoshoot…
Budgets, Locations, and Models
We begin with meetings with the buying team to discuss the new collection, budgets, locations and models. We’re always on the look out for new models that will help bring the clothing to life. We work with international models who fly from different countries such as Amsterdam and Paris - we’ve even had a model fly all the way from Australia! It’s great getting to meet different models from different places and they always have some interesting stories to tell. When shooting we try to get across the feeling of a good time, so it’s important that the models are actually enjoying themselves, not just for the camera.
One of my favourite shoots so far was last year when we visited Madeira. I’d never been before, so was very excited to be travelling somewhere new. Myself and our Head Of Creative, Rich always do a recce before the photoshoots where we look at locations and put a plan together.
A Bumpy Landing In Madeira
I’d heard lots of lovely things about Madeira, but I wasn’t looking forward to the flight as airport runway is very short and I was told I should expect a bumpy landing. I headed off on the recce, a little worried about the flight but the landing was completely fine - phew!
A month later it was time for the team to fly out for the photoshoot. We met in the airport and were filled with excitement about what the week would bring. This time we weren’t as lucky with the landing – the plane was shaking from side to side due to high winds. As we flew close to the mountains and circled many times, we finally landed safe and sound.
Working With Props: Do You Know You've Got Glitter On Your Face?
Some shoots require props which is a fun part of the job. We’ve recently just finished our Christmas photoshoot where I had to wrap presents and decorate the 9ft tree. I love Christmas, but somehow doing this in August always feels very strange. People kept asking ‘Do you know you’ve got glitter on your face?’- it gets everywhere!
Rolling Up Our Sleeves
There’s always a few unpredicted obstacles that we have to overcome. It wouldn’t be a Joe Browns shoot without them!
But we always roll up our sleeves and tackle them as a team. We always get an amazing end result and have some fun along the way, but like any job there’s things you can’t predict.
From memory I remember we hired a vintage car in Fuerteventura one year. The guy who owned the car had been super helpful and was on his way to meet us at the location. He called me to say the car tyre had blown – talk about unlucky! But luckily enough he had a spare tyre that he changed and made it in time to get some cool shots.
From models standing in dog poo, clothing rails breaking when we are walking through a busy city centre, to dealing with heavy rain when we were supposed to be shooting outside, we’ve had lots of stories over the years.
TRULY REMARKABLE
We’ve also had some pretty remarkable experiences too. From the most incredible sunsets, to discovering amazing locations, we always have incredible shoots that I’m lucky to be part of.
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