Cracking portraits

As a press photographer, Sean wanted to try something out of the ‘norm’ and as such experimented with some clay makeup…

- Sean Aidan

I took these images at Studio Visage in Folkestone with model Kristina Cohen Regan, aka Sinister Sister (@ sisterofsinister).

Kristina is a professional makeup artist and I wanted to get some shots where the make up was really experimental. I’d seen some pictures of a model wearing a clay mask online that looked cool, so I sent these over to her and she was more than up for it, as it would fit in with her eclectic tastes. We both loved that the clay had this fantastic cracked texture when dried. It took about 20 minutes for Kristina to apply the clay and a further 20 minutes for it to dry and create the crackle patterns.

I used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and paired it with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM lens for the shoot – it’s perfect for portraits. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 35cm, so you can get close to the subject – this is how I shot the super close-up image of Kristina’s eye.