Over To Cleo
When I was approached by the lovely team over at Gatherly to take over their Instagram account for 24 hours, my initial thought was ‘I have to do this in Brighton!’ Luckily my wish was granted as we all agreed that there’s a lot of wonderful opportunity in Brighton to create something summery and special.
From a young age I have been drawn to Brighton as a place, my first family holiday was in Brighton and even though I think I can remember parts of it, its probably just memories created from the beautiful bright colour photos that my mum took of me and my (at the time very new born) sister, eating 99s and sat on a very sunny pier. In my mind that’s how I imagine Brighton, full of colour and it makes me think of summer. It has to be said I got a little carried away in my mind of the photos that I could potentially create for the takeover. I have a large group of friends in Brighton who I knew would be about in the summertime. I envisioned them in the blue sea in an array of crazy patterned short shorts, boozing on the stones, skating over down in the level. However one thing that I didn’t envision was the rather unexpected visit of a huge storm!
I woke up at half 6 to a very dreary London sky but thought ‘It's sure to be lovely in a couple of hours.’ Whilst on the train the view outside was not too promising, if anything it seemed to be getting grayer and wetter the closer I got to the coast.’ Once I arrived I climbed up the hill to my boyfriends house I found myself to be soaked through before the day had even started! So not quite the day I had been hoping for but now this turned into a challenge.
One thing people often tell me about my work is how sunny and relaxed it always looks in my photos. For me, photography is an escape, its somewhere I can go into and create my version of my perfect world; that’s why I like to highlight the positives, the sunny mornings and dreamy afternoons are what your most likely to see in my work.
However, the sun can’t shine every god damn day and I like to be forced out of my comfort zone, which is exactly where this day brought me. My Boyfriend (who you may have noticed features heavily in my work) headed back down the hill into the town, by the time we reached the lanes, we were already soaked through our raincoats and looked like we had been out battering a storm for hours. Luckily it’s easy to get cozy and warm again with a wonderful selection of coffee shops, cafes and cute shops to go and snuggle in.
We paid a visit to one of my favourite shops in Brighton called ‘To be Worn Again’ where I met a lovely girl called Edie who worked in the shop and agreed to be photographed for the takeover. After trying on an array of eccentric jumpsuits and creating a mini photo-shoot with Edie we headed over for a well needed coffee and a sit down. Next up we decided that we had to brace the rain and wind and head over to the seafront where we were greeted with a very angry sea. I actually really enjoyed being stood on the beach in the middle of a storm;
When I was a child we would take a family trip down to Cornwall every spring. Not one year was the weather nice but we would take these great long walks across the cliffs and beaches listening to the thundering sea and the waves against the rocks feeling the salt on our cheeks.
It’s been many years since I have felt the true power of the sea, and standing there feeling it and listening to it crashing against the Pier was very invigorating. It also made for some beautiful and moody photographs. I’m still a child at heart and therefore no matter what the weather I struggle to go onto a pier and not indulge in a toffee apple or donuts. I went for candyfloss this time as lets face it, it looks like a giant pink fluffy cloud and any excuse to photograph something that girly and fun is a no brainer.
I did however manage to make my phone very sticky in the process! We took a stroll along the shops on the sea front brave enough to still have their doors open in spite of the wonderful weather, I love those kind of shops they all sell rock, painted stones and shells and artwork of seagulls and deck-chairs. They are all the same whatever beach you go too, but I still like to go in them, I think it’s a nostalgic thing.
Two good friends of mine work in a great little pub called The Foundry just off of the lanes, I decided to head over here next as it really was a great place to take shelter from the storm. We rounded the day off with a pub quiz and a pint in the warmth of the pub, an added bonus, we won the quiz! Not entirely sure how, I think it’s the first, and probably last time that that will ever happen! A massive thank to you all at Gather.ly for giving me such a wonderful opportunity to express my creativity in a new way, I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.
We loved Cleo's takeover and we kinda love the lady herself too! We're excited to see many more takeovers on our Gather.ly Instagram in the next few weeks from some of the most talented guys out there. We suggest you give us a follow to discover totally new talent, faces and places... If you'd like to check out Cleo's work and what she's up to, head over to her site and feel lucky enough to get a glimpse into her world...
