Art Direction

Decided before the shoot

Before anything is lit or styled, someone has to decide what the pictures are about. Art direction is that decision, and everything that follows from it: the idea, the story, the people, the look, and where the images will be used once they leave the set. It comes as part of my shoots, not on its own: the person who has the idea is the one behind the camera, so nothing gets lost between the mood board and the final frame.

Concept

It starts with the brief and one question: what should someone feel, or want, when they see these images? From there I build the idea and set it out in a mood board or treatment: references, colour, light, the kind of people and places, the pace of the frames. It becomes the document everyone works from, the client, the stylist and production, so the big decisions are made before the shoot day, not during it. If something isn’t right, it’s far easier to change on a page than on set.

Story & shot list

A campaign holds together when the images follow a thread. For a hotel, that might be one guest’s day, from breakfast in bed to dressing for the evening, so a single set can carry both the quiet morning and the glamour of the night. The story becomes the shot list: every frame named and ordered around the light and the property’s schedule, with room left for the moments that can’t be planned. Nothing is shot just because it happens to be there.

Casting, wardrobe & sets

Then the world gets built. Talent is cast for a look as much as a face: age, presence, the way someone carries themselves, people a guest could picture themselves being. Wardrobe follows the same brief, with cut, colour and fabric chosen to sit with the setting, not compete with it. Locations are chosen, and where none exists, a set is built from scratch, like a Christmas range shot on a set made only for it. Props and surfaces are pulled into the same palette, so a shirt, a tablecloth and a backdrop all read as one decision.

The look

The look is decided before the first frame, not found in the edit. Colour and texture are chosen together: warm or cool, matte or polished, soft linen or raw stone. Focal length sets the distance, close and intimate or pulled back to let a place breathe. Lighting sets the mood, from soft daylight to hard, graphic light. For brand work that can mean bold colour, a single backdrop carrying a whole campaign. And the treatment, the grade and finish, is agreed up front so every image reads as part of the same set.

From brief to final image

Most of what I know about art direction comes from running a creative agency in marketing and advertising: taking a client’s brief, turning it into something a team can work from, and seeing it through until the idea is realised. On a shoot, the stylist, production, hair and makeup and the talent are all briefed from the same treatment, so everyone is working toward one picture. On set I hold that line frame by frame, and it carries into the edit. I started out retouching and restoring photographs, and I still colour and retouch every image myself, so the finish stays consistent and true to the brief.

With styling and production from my studio, a campaign can be planned, built and shot by one team, from the first idea to the final files.