First photo shoot tips from a winning duo

Brent Barlow and Rosie Binns at Ethos Hairdressing won HJ's North Western Hairdressers of the Year at the 2014 British Hairdressing Awards - it was their first shoot. Here we speak to Brent and Rosie to find out how you can make your first shoot a success - and perhaps even an award-winner! Feeling inspired to enter? This year's competition is open for entry! When did you decide you wanted to put together your first shoot? Rosie: After assisting on shoots for our salon owners Sharon Peake and Adam Bryant, we decided to have a go at our own! It's so inspiring being on a shoot, you learn so much and it makes you desperate to have your go. Brent: We have always been interested in the photographic side of hairdressing. Seeing other people’s work within the industry is inspiring and made us want to create something beautiful ourselves. Working with award-winning hairdressers really gave us the hunger to give it a go. What were your first steps in getting it together? Rosie: We had so many ideas that we decided to set ourselves a starting point of landscapes. This meant we could research and develop ideas from something not hair-related, to hopefully come up with something new and exciting! Brent: Creating a concept and working out how to relate that to hair was definitely the first step. Where did you find your models/stylist/makeup artist/photographer? Rosie: I used to model, so I had friends in the industry. Thanks to the amazing world of social media, those few people you know can quite easily turn in to a huge network. Putting out a request for a makeup artist, for example, will get shared throughout your network and help you find the right team through personal recommendations. Brent: Friends, social media and agencies are always great places to start. How did you find the shoot itself went? Rosie: So fast, but fun! It's high energy and there's so little time that you just wish you had more hands. Brent: It went well, but it was exhausting knowing that all the work we had been putting in for weeks boiled down to just what we did on that shoot day. Did anything go wrong? Rosie: Nothing went wrong as such, but there are definitely things we would do slightly different next time. Brent: Nothing catastrophic, but we had to work around a few little problems. Thankfully we sorted these out thanks to our experience of assisting on other shoots. What was the most important thing you learnt that you’ll take with you for your next shoot? Rosie: I think our next shoot will be slightly more organised to save on time, and we will try shoot over more days so we can work on each look longer. I think being prepared is the most important thing. Once you’re on the shoot relaxing into it, as long as you’re prepared it shouldn't be as stressful! Brent: Time management! Don’t think you have all the time in the world. Shoot day soon creeps up.

Think it could be you this year? The 2015 British Hairdressing Awards are now open for entry - download your entry form here!