Monday, July 7, 2014

#ProjectScouted bombards Essenwood Park

On the Friday before many Durbanites were preparing for the Vodacom Durban July, the girls of #ProjectScouted - the extremely fortunate Top 10 - were busy creating art at the Essenwood Park for the Phase Six shoot. Having read Phase Six official photographer, SamanthaDuckworth's, brief for the photoshoot, some may have raised their eyebrows a little. But as is often the case, those who are sceptical are soon blown away by the amazing results.

            The theme for the shoot itself was eye-catching and intriguing; vulnerability. Each girl would have 10 to 15 mintues with Samantha lying on a mattress with white sheets and a pillow to capture a shot that exposes not their body, but their inner selves. Portraying the emotion of vulnerability and being completely unguarded is not an easy task. Its far easier to strike a pose full of fierce attitude but to portray strength through being open takes a skilled model. And this is what Samantha endeavoured to draw out from the girls who have excelled in the other shoots so far.

            The images were shot from an angle above the girls with Samantha teetering on a step-ladder and they were encouraged to pose in a way that felt comfortable to them, either showing their face or not. It might seem deceiving when taking a look at the images, but the girls wore strapless tops and shorts, allowing them to experiment with the shape and lines they could create with the sheet on their bodies while not being provocative or inappropriate. Iman Sheik, model at Ice Model Management, Durban and our guest judge from Phase Five, was also there to help direct the girls in their posing and to occasionally fluff up their hair.

            Following the success and popularity of the students of Make-up the College owned by Jacqui Bannerman applying the make-up for the models at the Phase Four fashion show and the Phase Five Top 15 high-fashion shoot, some of the college's fresh graduates came along to prep the girls according to the concept. The #ProjectScouted models have really been getting a taste of what it feels like to be a professional model with these regular shoots and professional make-up applications!

            Our regular lurkers were also in attendance as they would not have been able to miss such a unique shoot with such a distinct concept. Jerome Stoffels, Roy Esterhuysen of Firsthouse Photography, Nilufer Yucel, Jessica Van Goeverden of Van.Go Photography and Simphiwe Mkhwanazi all came by to shoot behind-the-scenes and also to take pics of each other taking pics. Scouts Lailah Osman, Dakota Jude Baptist and Ryan Francis of Shoelaced Clothing were also there to rally their girls and keep the morale up. Our scouts have also been rather modest throughout the Project, not realizing how important they are! The beautiful Charelle McAllister of Make-up by Charelle also dropped by to meet the girls, three of whom will be given the full treatment by her with hair and make-up done for the Top 3 shoot. Another loyal supporter, Se-Anne Rall of the Tabloid Newspapers, also came by to check out the action which might help her in her duty as the guest judge of this phase.


            Keep up to date for the photos from the shoot as well as the behind-the-scenes images as they are released on the Lee Folkard Photography page and also read up on the fascinating people involved in the Project on the blog. We can't contain our excitement and neither can the girls of #ProjectScouted as we're skirting towards the end. Some of the first place prizes were also revealed this week; the Apple iPad mini and a MAC make-up hamper, being the two prizes which have lit a fire of motivation under the models. We can't imagine saying goodbye to some of these girls with the next cut ahead of Phase Seven with the Top 5 approaching, but this is a competition and there can only be one winner. Do you think you know who that might be?

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