Creative Spirits — A Velvet Magazine Story
I've shot in a lot of spaces, but Kettle's Yard does something different. There's a quietness to it, the kind that makes you slow down and actually look. We were there for Velvet Magazine's Creative Spirits issue, shooting luxurious spring fabrics amongst the gallery's permanent collection, and what struck me almost immediately was how the clothing didn't compete with the art around it. It belonged there.
The brief came to me in an unusual way. I was originally brought in to assist photographer Simon Carter, but when circumstances changed, Simon asked me to step into the photographer role while he took on the director of photography hat. It was one of those moments where you just say yes and figure it out.
Simon and I had already been talking about the lighting approach, so the creative vision was something we'd built together from the start. Velvet Magazine had connected Simon with the key collaborators — model and creative director Rohiny Garyali, designer Delphine Dubisson, and hair and makeup artist Kate Fletcher — and the team they assembled was exceptional. What we had on paper was already exciting.
The lighting was something Simon and I felt strongly about. Kettle's Yard in late winter has this beautiful, low directional light that streams through the windows in a way that feels almost considered, like the building was designed with photographers in mind. We didn't want to fight it or overpower it with artificial light. We wanted to work with it, enhance it, let it do what it naturally does. That decision shaped everything that followed.
For me, that was a shift. My shoots tend to have a lot of energy, a lot of movement, people feeding off each other. This was different. Everything became more deliberate. More considered. You couldn't rush a frame because the room wouldn't let you.
But somewhere in that slowness, something clicked. The intentionality that the space demanded actually suited the clothing perfectly. Delphine's fabrics weren't meant to be caught mid-spin. They were meant to be seen. The stillness gave them room to breathe, and the result was a shoot that felt less like a fashion story and more like the clothing had simply always lived there, among the art, completely at home.
There's a particular kind of satisfaction that comes from a shoot where everything required you to think. The location had rules, the light was finite, the pace was slower than I'm used to. And yet when I got back and started going through the frames, I kept stopping. Not to fix anything, just to look.
The shoot day itself actually felt easy, but that ease was earned. It came from the consideration that went in beforehand, and from the collaboration on the day. Simon's direction, Rohiny's instinct in front of the camera, the way Kate's work held up in that quiet natural light, Delphine's pieces doing exactly what great clothing does when you give it space. Everyone brought something, and when that happens you can feel it. It all came together in a way that reminded me why I love this work.
If you're working on something that deserves that kind of care, whether it's a collection, a brand, a personal project or something you haven't quite figured out how to describe yet, I'd love to hear about it. The best shoots I've done have always started with a conversation. So let's have one.
Get in touch or find me on Instagram at @morgyngoff.
