I was approached by Stern Magazine to create a series for their latest supplement magazine Mode. I was given complete free reign on the concept for the editorial which allowed me to get really creative when planning my ideas.

My main inspiration for this series came from 70’s advertisements and homewares catalogues, often featuring a glamourous home setting.

My aim was to capture 12 different images where the model was interacting with a catalogue product. My use of bright and bold colours helped to enhance the over exaggerated facial expressions. The 70’s inspired styling and hair has a modern approach giving my take on 70’s advertisement a contemporary and fun twist.

When lighting each scene, I would use my standard lighting set up. This involved the broncolor Flooter as my key light to direct the overall focus onto the model’s face, I had the flooter on ‘full flood’ so that the focused light wasn’t too harsh on the model’s face.

To light the rest of the set I used a number of different sized broncolor soft boxes. These would be place either side of the scene to create an even light. I like for the shadows in my pictures to have a blue or green tinge, to add subtle tone and colour to my images. The size of the soft box that I would use was dependent on how big the set was.

Along with the key light shining on the model’s face I also used a broncolor Beauty dish on a boom arm over the back of the set. This was directed onto the back of the model’s head to catch the top of her hair. In this case I used a golden gel to add a warmer highlight to pick out details in the hair and add extra depth to my images.

In the image with the hairspray can I would use a green gel on the beauty dish to create more of a dramatic scene and compliment the model’s expression.

Throughout this shoot we used Broncolor’s high speed flash on the Scoro wifi pack to capture movement in the images from such things as the wine pouring down the model’s arm, the water in the shower, the juice from the juicer and the aerosol mist.

When creating each scene I worked closely with my set designer who devised different bold and block coloured sets for each shot. I used the light and shadows to really bring a sense of life to each of these backdrops and create a sense of space and that the image was shot in a room rather than against a single wall in a studio.

All of the portraits were taken on Rolliflex 6001 with 120/180mm lens, set at f.16 and shot on Kodak ekta 100 ASA film – rated at 80 ASA, to bring more information into the shadow areas. The film was processed at labs in London at + 1/2.

Supplement Stern Magazine
Only the most respected photographers such as Nick Knight and Peter Lindberg have shot this Stern special edition before.

Miles Aldridge (British, b.1964)
is a fashion photographer widely known for the distinctive style of his photographs, which are over-saturated, surreal, and glamorous. Aldridge sets a stage and mood akin to the great Hollywood directors of the 1940s through 1960s. Infused with intense color, light, and drama, his women and men are always beautiful yet detached. The women he portrays, in particular, are often caught in dark or mysterious situations. Among his influences are his father, graphic designer Alan Aldridge, and filmmakers David Lynch, Derek Jarman, and Federico Fellini. After studying illustration at the Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, Aldridge worked as a music video director, and in 1993, officially turned to fashion photography. Not long after his career change, Aldridge was already shooting covers for W magazine. Since then, Aldridge has worked with many publications, including Vogue, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.