
Former Miss Ireland – Sacha Livingstone
Miss Ireland 2018 – Aoife O’Sullivan – Follow her on Instagram
Makeup by Jane Rose – www.instagram.com/janerose_mua
I have been fortunate to work with various Miss Ireland’s over the years. It is always great working with such beautiful, elegant and hard working women. Sacha is no different. The Hillsborough beauty worked her way up from the Miss Antrim title to the goal of Miss Ireland. She is currently with CMPR so is no stranger to the fashion world and presenting herself well. Unfortunately success wasn’t to be had at the Miss World event, but she was a great ambassador for Ireland.
We had a great day shooting in studio, with a nice early start for Sacha for her drive down. We were aiming for a easygoing test shoot, natural makeup, nothing major. Sacha looked after her own hair and makeup for the shoot and what a great job she done. We shoot on my usual white background and we also tried out my new black corner set. It is a still work in progress and there is lots of testing to do with it to see what kind of light can be achieved with it, but so far so good.
The bodysuit look against the white wall was the more striking of the looks. It showed off Sacha’s 5’9 figure perfectly. The shots were featured in the Irish Sun in March 20th. Screenshot shown below also.
As you can tell, I have not been posting as much behind the scenes posts as much anymore, that is purely a time issue. Social Media is the best way to see what I get up to on a shoot. Click on the links on the top right. Also, if you have any questions on anything, post them in the comments below.
Don’t forget to check out and follow Sacha on her social media also: https://www.instagram.com/slivingstonee/
Say Hey! to Jess Hayes Miss Ireland 2014. The cork gal dropped down to my studio for a test shoot to update here book a little. As you can see from the pictures, Jess is stunning… and tall! She stands 5’11. She has recently just signed with Andrea Roche Model Agency, so expect to be seeing her out and about fairly regularly.
Jess is the 5th Miss Ireland that I have shot now. You can see all my other shoots with Former Miss Ireland’s and finalists here: https://www.richie.ie/tag/miss-ireland/ . Keep an eye on my Instagram or my FaceBook Page to see my next shoot with Jess before she jets off to Miss World in November 2014.
Tipperary Teacher, Aoife Walsh was crowned Miss Ireland for 2013. She was a very deserving winner too in my eyes and one of my favourite Miss Ireland’s to shoot. Her fantastic red hair adds to the quintessential Irish’ness about her and would do her proud on the Miss World stage. Unfortunately that didn’t work out for her, but she still had a great year as Miss Ireland and has plenty of modeling work here to keep her going.
It was great to get her down in studio for a shoot. We had done the usual Twitter and Facebook chats about doing a shoot and it eventually came together. A lot of time when trying to organise a shoot with people online, the interest can fizzle out. But not this time.
We had a great team on board for the shoot. Fellow Wexfordian Laura Mullett (http://www.lauramullett.com/) styled the shoot. I have worked with Laura before and she always brings fantastic style to shoot. Sophie Wong was at hand for fantastic Makeup for Aoife as well as Hair Styling. Sophie is also Wexford based, so it was a nice local team in studio.
It was a great shoot, covering lots of looks from some Raceday looks to some fashion and headshots. The shot above with the blue bodysuit from American Apparel is one my favs. It was actually a test shoot that turned out great. I just really liked Aoife’s post and expression…. I can’t remember what I was jabbering on about at the time, trying to keep her entertained while doing the test shots. I used my white setup and flash bracket for this shot. You can see other posts on the “White Wall” HERE
Rebecca Maguire is the stunning Belfast girl who won the Miss Ireland 2012 title. I first worked with Rebecca when she won the Miss Wright Venue in 2012, and from there she went on to win Miss Ireland. We shot this in June as her reign was coming to an end. We were shooting for the double page feature in the Irish Sun and for the cover of the Sunday World Magazine.
We assembled a great team for the shoot. Rebecca came down to my studio from Belfast for the shoot. Aimee came from Dublin for make-up. Edel drove down from Baltinglass. Laura popped out from Enniscorthy and Jason joined us also to video the shoot. The team worked great together and we got some fantastic images.
This was my first time working with hair stylist Edel Jones. Edel works in Tecknicolour saloon in Baltinglass. Edel done fantastic job with Rebecca. My favourite hair look from the day with the one above… there is a hint of a Cheryl Cole look going on I think. Combined with the fabulous dress, it is a very hot look. Rebecca really rocked it this look, which you can see in the video below.
As you can see from the shots, there was a lot of colour going on. It was the height of summer, so why not. Laura done a great job with the styling here I think. I am no expert on styling, but it all looked good. For a detailed breakdown on the styling and Laura’s train of thought for it all, you can check out her own blog post on the shoot. Check out on Lipstick Gossip – Meeting Rebecca Maguire
Below is a behind the scenes video shots by my assistant and DE Photo Staff member Jason Ennis. I kind of throw him into the deep end on this one as it was a last minute thought. Jason shot it on one of my Canon 1D mkIV bodies. I later edited the footage together and below is the result.
The “Miss Wright Venue” title is a highly contested accolade. It is one of the most popular entry paths into the Miss Ireland. The 2011 title holder was Faye Fooney and she represented the Night Club very well, so well she is now an employee in fact. The Belfast Beauty Rebecca Maguire was crowned Miss Wright Venue 2012 last month.
Rebecca is no stranger to the world of pageants or fashion. She is a hot favorite to win the 2012 Miss Ireland title as she came second last year after been beaten by Holly Carpenter. It was a tough contest last year as both were great contenders, but only one could win. This could be Rebecca’s year though.
I sponsored a photoshoot for the winner of Miss Wright Venue 2012. The shoot styling was also sponsored by Nicole Spain of Flutter On By Fashion Styling. Go check the out if you are looking to do a styling course. The Hair sponsor for the shoot was Shauna Spain Hair Styling. Go check out here great deals on a blow dry at the moment. Aine Cahill was on hand to provide her Make-Up artistry skills. Aine a graduate from LA Make-Up Academy did a great job. Finally, the dresses were provided by The Ivory Closet Dress Hire Limerick. The Ivory Closet are a popular name these days when it comes to quality dress hire.
I was delighted to meet Rebecca and her Mum (Hey Charlotte) and Auntie Karen in the Wright Venue Penthouse for the craic at the after party. We started to plan the shoot straight away to get the ball rolling on it. The aim for the shoot was to shoot some elegant shots with Rebecca modeling the fantastic dresses from The Ivory Closet along with some classic swim ware shoots as well as a lingerie look. Time was limited for the shoot and we had a lot to get through. I think we managed to cover the plan fairly well though 🙂
Rebecca looks great in these swimsuit and lingerie shots though, as I am sure you will agree. You can check these shoots out in the Irish Sun Paper .
We shot on location at the Wright Venue…. well Rebecca is the Misses of the place after all 🙂 . The WV is a fantastic venue and top class club. It has some lovely features and unique places that make for a great shooting location / background. However, here in lies the problem. It is now hard to shoot there while doing so in a creative and new way. The last thing a photographer want is to be shooting a model in the same way as 2 or 4 other photographers. That is a common problem when shooting at popular locations….. how do you make it look different? Well in this case, it’s not so much about making it look different persay but trying to shoot from either a different angle or by using different lighting.
For example, the Scarface room is a cool private VVIP part of the venue. It has been shot by so many different photographers with so many different models in many different ways… its hard to get a unique take on it. Coupled with that the time limit that we had ( there was a fashion show on later), it’s often under pressure that the solutions come about. My solution was to use my Magic light a.K.a the Orbis Ring Flash. Check out all the black and white shots to see the effect of that.
The Miss Ireland Final is on the 28th of April, so there is not long left for it now. I want to wish Rebecca the best of Luck with it…. I know she will do great.