So Iggy Azaleas new EP is coming out very soon. Today she released the final cover image for the EP on her Facebook page.
She had done a previous underwater shoot for the EP cover, but was entirely unhappy with the results. She saw some photos i took of london Drag queen/ artist Daniel Lismore and requested i shoot her, saying that those photos were what she wanted her previous shoot to be.
So without much prep we went to the same pool and shot during mid day she had make up and wardrobe and no plan for exactly what shots she wanted but i just took her through a bunch of basic daytime angles and light and let her outfit and beauty do the rest. She was a pro at posing underwater, unlike most people i have photographed. It was nice to just dig into shooting and not waste a lot of time teaching a model how to sink.
Kozy (who is my creative partner in our main profession illustration and fine art/ painting/ drawing) was in the water assisting and had the idea to throw the fabric directly over her face in the shadow along the pool edge. We feel for that look instantly and shot the heck out of it. One of these ended up being the front cover of the forthcoming Glory EP almost straight out of the camera (i darker the top left corner but that is about it).
Those veiled shots looked like they could have been shot at night, but the full body shots were very obviously daytime shots. Azalea wanted the full body shot for the back cover to match the front cover so the background had to be dropped to black in post editing (along with some retouching due to the pool they chose being quite dirty).
Overall the shoot went well. Once we got in, Iggy had a lot of ideas and was game to try anything. She was a real trooper, even on tough shots like looking up at reflection from the under surface of the water. A total professional and the immediate response to the images has been great.
Her music is a far cry from the style of the imagery she makes pretty hardcore hip hop music, but went with this sort of traditional ethereal glamour look for the artwork. She wanted to have a juxtaposition to keep the public guessing and i think we succeeded in this.
