Go behind the scenes of Becca Butterworth’s photoshoot

By Kat Hill | 27 November 2018 | Expert Advice, Feature

Becca Butterworth4

3rd place: Becca Butterworth

Becca Butterworth, owner of Becca Butterworth’s Beautitude and Nail Harmony master educator for Yorkshire, reveals the story behind her photoshoot for The Great Scratch Shoot Out – and how she scooped third place…

“I was really excited to place third in The Great Scratch Shoot Out,” smiles Becca. “I know how stiff the competition is and how many entries there are each year. I’ve entered four times and it was really encouraging to see that my perseverance paid off in the end.

“The concept for my entry came from my background of fine art and art history, which is always a big influence in my competition work. I usually try to make my nails mini works of art but I thought this time I would like to make the whole image look like a piece of art, more specifically like a painting. I came up with this idea about six months prior to the The Great Scratch Shoot Out opened for entry and spent that time researching the idea and practising making a model look like a painting on my daughter.

“The images were shot in August at my salon by Nabila of Nabila Burija Photography. We didn’t have to use a location as the background of the shoot was a giant canvas I had painted and for this shoot. I didn’t require hair and makeup as I was literally painting straight on to my model.

“The shoot went really well, we didn’t hit many obstacles, the only thing we really played around with was my models pose to try and recreate the kind of pose you might see in a painting. I absolutely loved working on this shoot it was so much fun to see my slightly obscure concept come to life and to see a live model become a second painting. It was funny to see what looked like a painting of a woman using a modern phone in breaks from the shoot! My amazing model Melissa told me it took four washes to get all the paint out of her hair !

“The the nails were completed the night before the shoot using the Nail Harmony ProHesion system. On the day of the shoot, I painted over them in the same way I painted the rest of my model so they looked like part of the ‘painting’. We used the models pose to make them the focal point.

“I feel that the finished photograph did achieve the message and idea I wanted and this was further validated by comments I received after from people confused as to why I’d entered a painting into a photography competition!

“Placing in The Great Scratch Shoot Out has definitely helped my career by spurring me on to keep entering competitions and because of this I’m a finalist in the Scratch Stars Awards in the Gel Polish Stylist of the Year 2018.

“My advice to others would be to not be afraid of thinking outside the box. I know my image wasn’t the usual ‘front cover’ image you’d expect in a nail or beauty magazine but I wanted to create a piece of art and I feel I did that and was rewarded for it. If you are thinking about entering just do it, push yourself to create art and enjoy it. Believe in your idea and #showscratch what you can do!”

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You can enter The Great Scratch Shoot Out by clicking here!


Photographer: Nabila of Nabila Burija Photography

Nails and styling: Becca Butterworth