It’s been a crazy, busy year for Silk Hat Studio. The cadence for 2024 was one shoot every weekend and one or two per month on weekdays. Each shoot consisted of several themes, with most shoots lasting 4-5 hours.
Each of those created a backlog of images to be culled and edited.
Each of those created a need for props, set design, costume, etc.
If 2024 was about experimentation, 2025 is more targetted. I’ll be reducing the number of themes that I shoot on a regular basis and reducing my availability to shoot.
The intent for 2025 is to do 12 fully-themed shoots. This allows for more time to plan, prepare, shoot and edit.
These are the themes I’m going to concentrate on:
Fantasy
Sword and sorcery style, high-fantasy. Telling stories through images. Think of inspiration coming from 80s movies such as Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, Hawk the Slayer, etc through newer movies and series such as Lord of the Rings and The Witcher. These will be in studio and on location. As ever, I’ll also be drawing inspiration from mythology and old stories of any country, music, paintings and other art work.
Fashion Fantasy
Taking the Fantasy elements from the previous theme and combining it with fashion images. This will likely end up with a more editorial vibe.
Video
I’ll also be experimenting with video, ideally creating a movie trailer in the above styles.
Others
While the above styles are where I’ll concentrate, you’ll also see taking opportunity where the right person, right location and right timing comes along. They won’t have priority, but it’s important to keep some variety. I’ve always felt that practicing a variety of work allows for cross-pollenisation, introducing ideas or techniques of one theme into another theme.