Gothic Image and Sophia Gray shoot channels Britney’s ‘Toxic’

GOTHIC IMAGE AND SOPHIA GRAY SHOOT CHANNELS BRITNEY’S ‘TOXIC’

Gothic Image recently teamed up with Sophia Gray, a model new to fetish photography, to create a photo shoot inspired by Britney Spears’ Toxic video and based around Libidex’s air hostess-themed Toxic Dress and matching Stewardess Cap.

With more than two decades of alternative fashion and portrait work to his name, British photographer Gothic Image — known to his pals as Andy — still loves putting together new fetish photoshoots, often inspired by finding new models he thinks have something fresh to bring to the genre.

Many people on the UK scene will remember Andy as the photographer who, for the first four years (2014-2018) of London pop-up shopping event Le Boutique Bazaar, regularly ran a photo studio at the event, tirelessly shooting designers, models and visitors, and providing LBB’s hosts with social media galleries to display mere hours later. This collaboration also provided Andy with a steady trickle of new model and designer contacts, not to mention content for his Gothic Image website.

Top image and next three images below: Sophia Gray in Libidex Toxic Dress and Stewardess Cap for the Gothic Image latex shoot inspired by Britney Spears’ Toxic video

Back in the day, Andy also did some product photography for Libidex, which gave him the chance to borrow a red Libidex Gemma Gown to show what he could do with it in an editorial-style location rather than a standard studio-based product shoot. (Incidentally, we’re still using some of Andy’s product shots on the Libidex website today.) Fast-forward to now and Libidex latex again features in a Gothic Image shoot, and in a rather unusual location (something of a Gothic Image trademark). So we asked him how the project came about.

“I really need to start with the model, Sophia Gray,” he says. “Although she’s only been modelling for just over a year, in that time she’s already worked with renowned industry photographic professionals such as Joe McNally and Peter Coulson. She now appears on a number of clothing websites, both here and abroad, and is in constant demand.

“Sophia is also a talented artist in her own right, producing wonderfully intricate floral canvases and textiles. Although an agency-signed commercial model rather than a fetish model, she shares my sense of the bizarre and quirky, in which latex has its place. She describes herself as a creative chameleon, and I wholeheartedly agree!”

Andy recalls that when he and Sophia first met, “somehow both of us knew within five minutes” that they would work well together. And it seems they weren’t wrong!

“That first meeting has blossomed into a very productive creative partnership where we constantly come up with concepts and bounce ideas off each other before and during the shoot,” he continues. “When shooting, Sophia has an almost telepathic ability to sense what I want with virtually no direction needed — we just ‘click’, if you’ll excuse the pun. Add to that a fierce intelligence and outgoing personality, and it’s no wonder she’s become one of my most favourite models.”

It transpires that the idea for the Toxic shoot stemmed from a previous Gothic Image shoot with Sophia at Shepton Mallet prison, this one based on Lady Gaga’s Telephone video.

“Sophia had singled out Britney Spears’ Toxic video as another possibility, and we passed various ideas back and forth,” says Andy. “The choice of the Libidex dress and hat was a mutual decision as they somehow just looked ‘right’, so I ordered them up in appropriate colours. Shoes were slightly more difficult as I couldn’t find any that were quite the correct colour, so I adjusted them later in Photoshop.

“Looking closely at the original video, I noted Britney’s earrings. I couldn’t find any the same but discovered that a US fan site sold them as key rings so I bought a pair and modified them. We discussed various shoot ideas and I suggested our version of the in-flight safety demonstration, for which I managed to find a genuine aircraft oxygen mask and life vest on eBay.”

The next problem was a suitable location. “After searching the Internet, I settled on Shoot Aviation in Maidenhead who have a number of aircraft sets available. As they cater for the film and TV industries they aren’t cheap, but their Airbus A320 set is the front fuselage of a real aircraft and is fully lit, remotely controlled by a tablet.” Several emails later, the date was fixed and the set booked.

Above and bottom: Sophia’s previous shoot with Gothic image was inspired by Lady Gaga’s Telephone video, and was photographed at Shepton Mallet Prison

“We only shot for an hour, but that’s all we needed,” Andy remembers. “I used a large LED ring light to help with filling the shadows and adding shine to the latex. We took just under 800 frames on my Canon R5 and some quick videos on Sophia’s iPhone. One memorable moment was when one of the Shoot Aviation staff looked at Sophia’s dress and asked: ‘Is that Libidex?’. I think he’s still trying to explain to his colleagues how he knew!”

The photographer adds that the selection of which images to edit from the 800 available was by mutual agreement, proclaiming: “One of the other advantages of working with Sophia is that we tend to see things in the same way.” At time of writing, Andy hadn’t yet added the Toxic gallery to the Gothic Image website. But by happy coincidence, the site’s current Featured Gallery is the pair’s previous collaboration inspired by Lady Gaga’s Telephone video.

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