Tess | Concept Shoot

Yoga teacher breaking bad

This was such a fun concept to bring to life. Tess came in wanting something completely different to the boudoir shoot we had planned. Her alter ego was calling her. She pulled out her Nirvana t-shirt and pulled on some black socks. The idea was to include a cigarette in the shoot, but she only had roll papers, nothing to smoke in it! We ended up breaking up some sage instead, which honestly worked even better. The smoke was thicker, more textured and gave the images this hazy, cinematic feel.

We shot everything in her bathroom. We threw some lingerie and shoes around to bring a little raw chaos—perfect for the mood. What made it even more interesting is that Tess is usually the opposite of this energy. She’s known as bright, bubbly, always in sunny colours, the life of the party. This shoot was her stepping into something darker, moodier, more rebellious and a side of her she doesn’t normally show.

One of the standout shots we agreed was shooting through the doorframe. This voyeur-style perspective made it feel like you weren’t meant to be seeing this side of her. Those images ended up being some of the strongest.

I chose quite a dark, moody, grainy edit and she loved them. When she shared them, people were genuinely shocked and in awe, most had never seen her like this. It wasn’t just the aesthetic which I personally feel like we nailed. It was that we tapped into another part of her, another facet of her personality and people felt that.