When Linh Le from Hong Linh Photography told me that she was going to be shooting an Ethiopian inspired shoot with UV Paints, I thought what an unusual concept yet I couldn’t help wondering how it would turn out. Then she showed me the photos that she shot that weekend and I was drawn in by the beauty images that she achieved. I knew I had to speak to her about the images she created and hope that it would be able to inspire the fellow artists that follow this blog, to let imagination take over and to think outside the box.
Linh Le has remembered constantly taking photos, she explained that “I have always loved taking pictures, especially when on holidays, but they were more tourist pictures lol. Then in 2010, I went on a big Asia trip. It was my first time in Asia, (even though I’m Asian haha), and I wanted to capture the breathtaking landscape as well as the culture there in a deeper way than just with standard tourist pictures. This is when I bought my first DSLR camera. So, I started off with a lot of travel and landscape photography and when I moved to Cardiff, I decided to join Cardiff Camera Club to learn more about photography. The club offered a lot of practical opportunities, such as different projects and one of them was ‘people photography’. I have always loved fashion and beauty make-up, so I decided to do a beauty series with the theme colours. Luckily, I had a friend who was really into doing make-up (Sophie) and a friend who was a former model in Mongolia (Khaliun) and so, I set up my first studio shoot. From that moment on, I knew that this is what I wanted to do and I started learning more about fashion/beauty lighting as well as posing and I used all my friends as models to practice shooting as often as I could. Photography has become my passion and a very big part of my life. It is a way for me to express myself as well as to bring in different creative aspects of myself, for example, I love to play with fabrics and create my own outfits and accessories for photo shoots. I couldn’t imagine my life without fashion photography.”
I asked Linh about why she chose to start experimenting with UV paints for this beauty shoot, she replied “I love experimenting and trying out new things and shooting with UV paints was an opportunity for me to bring my creativity to a whole new level. In addition to that, UV paints are an exciting way to focus more on Make-Up art as well as lighting.” I was intrigued and asked Linh if she could elaborate on the inspiration for the shoot, “My inspirations always come out of nowhere at random times, but mostly before I go to sleep lol. I was thinking about doing a tribal inspired shoot for awhile and I was browsing through Pinterest when I came across some UV make-up shots and I thought it would look amazing with the tribal make-up. However, I didn’t want the UV paint to stand out so much that you don’t see any other details of her [the model’s] face any more, so it was then a long process of trying out the balance between the UV light and the ambient light.”
If Linh could summarize her style, she states, “I would describe my style is elegant, yet soft and dreamy. I try to tell a story with my image, visualising the kind of life that person might lead or the emotions they have in that situation. My concepts are often inspired by different cultures or social issues that I have experienced or encountered in my life. Therefore, the images are mostly a reflection of myself in some way.” To create this beauty shoot Linh detailed that, “I used my Nikon D7000 on a tripod. For the lighting, I used led fairy lights hanging on the backdrop and a 20W UV light tube on each side of the model.”
To find out more information and see all the images from Linh Le’s UV shoot as well as other shoots, you can check the blog on her website www.honglinhphotography.com
You can contact her via e-mail: mhlinh.le@gmail.com
message Linh on her website: www.honglinhphotography.com
or Facebook page (Hong Linh Photography).
Photo Credits:
Photographer: Hong Linh Photography
Make Up Artist: Sophie Le
Models: Wendy Ng & Ana Santos
