I’ve been shooting for Joan Murray at the Vintage Fashion & Decor Fairs in Dun Laoghaire for the past few years. The next Fair is coming up on Sunday April 6^th at the Royal Marine Hotel and the Irish Independent’s Weekend Magazine recently commissioned a two page feature themed on the 1970’s styles of the recently released movie American Hustle.

2-Vintage-Hustle-JCoveneyVintage Hustle shoot for the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine 29 March 2014. Images © John Coveney, 087 276 5158, www.johncoveney.ie. Produced by Joan Murray of Vintage Ireland, styling by Irene O’Brien, hair by Joyce Clarke Henry, and make up by Amanda Hynes Johnson on location at the Royal Marine Hotel. Models were Ellie Connolly of Assets and Julie Shanley of Frasers.

A shoot like this is a team effort with styling by Irene O’Brien, hair by Joyce Clarke Henry, and make up by Amanda Hynes Johnson all on location at the Royal Marine Hotel – as well as about 10 suppliers of outfits and accessories. The models were Ellie Connolly of Assets as Jennifer Lawrence’s character Rosalyn Rosenfeld and Julie Shanley of Frasers as Amy Adam’s character Sydney Prosser. You can see more shots from the day here.

6-Vintage-Hustle-JCoveneyVintage Hustle shoot for the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine 29 March 2014. Images © John Coveney, 087 276 5158, www.johncoveney.ie. Produced by Joan Murray of Vintage Ireland, styling by Irene O’Brien, hair by Joyce Clarke Henry, and make up by Amanda Hynes Johnson on location at the Royal Marine Hotel. Models were Ellie Connolly of Assets and Julie Shanley of Frasers.

This shoot was my biggest job to date and I was just a tad (!) nervous knowing that I was responsible for capturing the team’s work for a readership of over half a million. Time was limited on the day and there were several outfits and locations so a fast and light approach was needed. I shot with either a single off camera flash mounted on a Lastolite stand and Ezybox or with the flash mounted above my camera on my Demb Flash Bracket and diffused with my Lumiquest Quikbounce. The latter was especially useful when we did the outdoor shots in breezy conditions that would have made using the stand and softbox difficult. I wanted to balance the ambient and flash lighting so I shot in manual mode and used wide apertures and ISO’s of up to 400 to get the background correctly exposed and blurred. The flash was then used as a fill in to correctly expose the models and their outfits. Using this approach, it’s critical to keep a close eye on the shutter speed because, even with image stabilisation, it can drop to levels where shots could be lost due to camera shake or subject movement – but it’s worth it when you get it right!

1-Vintage-Hustle-JCoveneyVintage Hustle shoot for the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine 29 March 2014. Images © John Coveney, 087 276 5158, www.johncoveney.ie. Produced by Joan Murray of Vintage Ireland, styling by Irene O’Brien, hair by Joyce Clarke Henry, and make up by Amanda Hynes Johnson on location at the Royal Marine Hotel. Models were Ellie Connolly of Assets and Julie Shanley of Frasers.

3-Vintage-Hustle-JCoveneyVintage Hustle shoot for the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine 29 March 2014. Images © John Coveney, 087 276 5158, www.johncoveney.ie. Produced by Joan Murray of Vintage Ireland, styling by Irene O’Brien, hair by Joyce Clarke Henry, and make up by Amanda Hynes Johnson on location at the Royal Marine Hotel. Models were Ellie Connolly of Assets and Julie Shanley of Frasers.

4-Vintage-Hustle-JCoveneyVintage Hustle shoot for the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine 29 March 2014. Images © John Coveney, 087 276 5158, www.johncoveney.ie. Produced by Joan Murray of Vintage Ireland, styling by Irene O’Brien, hair by Joyce Clarke Henry, and make up by Amanda Hynes Johnson on location at the Royal Marine Hotel. Models were Ellie Connolly of Assets and Julie Shanley of Frasers.