Today was a day of positive energy partly due to my introduction to the hugely talented Warwickshire photographer, Rachel Spivey. As some of you may or may not know, (do keep up Vansters) I thought I was meeting Rachel yesterday, in fact it was today. Colour me ‘DOH’. I put that down to my mind being totally excited after seeing Rachel’s official website and thus wanting to miss a day and just get to it!
So this morning I headed to a nice little boutique cafe in the heart of Royal Leamington Spa to meet with this fabulous lady – I knew she was fabulous before I met her. Her blog is filled with humour, her texts are just the same and her photography work speaks of great variety from boudoir, burlesque, design, editorial and of course Bridal.
Like many good female photographers I’ve worked with (as a model at least) I’ve noticed the work has a common thread, as I mentioned when I talked about the Californian based photographer, Julie K – that theme is soul.
In every picture Rachel Spivey has taken it’s the soul of the person that shines through. Not so much capturing a body or face but a moment of expression and feeling. I’m instantly drawn to it so I tend to work with people who I know will not just point and shoot – but will actually find a moment in your soul and capture that. It’s not something you can learn in university, although Rachel herself did study photography at Cheltenham and Gloucester College, – it’s intuitive!
My meeting with Rachel was partly arranged by my rather fantastic Granny – who at 70 *cough* plus years has not forgotten the art of gossiping networking over the garden fence. Quite some time ago I was mentioned to Rachel in my make-up artistry capacity and it’s only now that we’ve finally been able to connect. Thanks Granny!!
>Now I’m going to get a little new age on you all because if I told you there are some people with good energies and some people with no energy at all, possibly you may think I’ve lost my mind. Actually, when meeting possible business contacts I gravitate towards people who instantly have a warm energy around them. In the past I’ve been dazzled by a person’s ego and hype and as I’ve learned to my cost – that isn’t the same as genuine positive, warm energy. Rachel does not come with hype or ego, but a genuine willingness to listen and share knowledge. She greeted me with a warm, genuine smile – the kind a friend gives you when they haven’t seen you for a while.
She proceeded to tell me all her exciting future plans which none of them I’ll share with you now – but they are exciting and I felt in a way I was sent to meet her, by some unknown force (aside from the prospect of meeting her as a possible business colleague) to tell her that all her plans were doable and amazing! Just like my work with where I am asked my opinion as part of the team, Rachel too asked me as if I was part of the team and what I thought of various aspects of her goals. That meant a lot.
The fact that I’ve been in front of the camera and worked in beauty for well over ten years doing countless makeovers, demos, beauty events etc helped – but I also think my amazing sense of adventure and fun spilled over. After all, working in a team should not be about power over another, but an even balance of skill sets that lend themselves to the creation of an awesome product!
So after coffee, laughs and serious business talk we’ve decided it would be quite fine for us to take over the world – muahahah. No, not really. We just want to collaborate (with me as her main make-up artist) to create wonderful pictures people will cherish and enjoy! We will also be joined by a rather talented hair stylist, Jeni Aldridge, who’s worked as a stylist on various fashion shows for the likes of Stella McCartney and the late, great, Alexander McQueen, as well work in various magazines. Plus, the post production savvy, Sue Cameron, whose skills in digital processing and retouching are classed as an art form. So that’s four of us taking over the world – sorry *cough* making lovely pictures! 
I trust all you lovely Vansters agree? Good! Let’s go!!!
For further information please visit:
http://www.rachelspivey.co.uk/
http://rachelspivey.wordpress.com/
Main photo ©Rachel Spivey 2010
