When you live in the UK you have to be prepared for a summer that’s a bit all over the place. This year we’ve had heatwaves amidst weeks of clouds and relentless drizzle, but luckily I love shooting overcast days because we’ve had plenty of those too. There’s just something about an almost empty beach. Maybe the odd dog walker in the distance, lightly disturbed waves rolling in and a strong breeze weaving through grasses along the promenade. It’s a perfect shoot backdrop.

Myself and model/stylist Robyn chose such a day for an evening of capturing gentle tailoring and pastel colours on film. Devon beaches often have a mix of typical British seaside attractions and natural landscape intertwined and our location leaned more into the nature side, providing us with a beautiful range of backdrops.

We brainstormed this shoot as a relaxed fashion shoot, choosing tones that worked with landscape and also softened the impact of the tailored fits. One darker suit added an extra element of contrast and I love the way it looks on black and white film.

I’ve been a student of photography for over a decade now and while I’ve read book after book and watched hours of YouTube videos on composition, lighting etc, I’ve been learning that just knowing how to use your camera is only the beginning when it comes to creating the kinds of images I love. I’ve learned from people like Ryan Muirhead that it’s human connection that helps create images that move me. So, me and Robyn spent time chatting about the last year and a half, what we found tough and what our hopes were. Overall, we worked to have fun and enjoy the evening, soak in the atmosphere and only maybe get images we loved.