THE HEIGHT OF FASHION

Fashion week may be over for another year but 500ft up on the roof of 1 Canada Square there was one more shoot to be done. The photoshoot was of two models showcasing several Autumn/Winter looks ahead of Canary Wharf Autumn Fashion Weekend. A catwalk had been specially built for me 50 floors up on the edge of the roof looking out over the whole of London, a truly amazing view.

There are however a few issues with taking photographs so high up on a windy autumn day. In my mind it was all so easy, pop up a beauty dish high up close to the model, sand bag it, get someone to hold on to it for good luck, great light, job done. The health and safety officer had other ideas, after taking one look at my light, declaring it was a wind sock not photographic equipment and strictly not to be used. I quietly explained that fashion shoots don't happen without lights, when eventually we came to a compromise this turned out to be strapping every inch of it to the catwalk supports 5 meters away, not ideal! Every part of the stage was surrounded by crash mats in case of kamikaze models, dodging the drips from the ceiling. Apart from that and some very cold and windswept models the rest of the shoot went well and for what is essential a garage at the top of a building I think we made it look pretty good.

The reality