Before I begin – Sarah Spoon is one heckin’ talented lady who is a fantastic energy to be around. Wherever you are in the world, hire her for your things. DJ, teacher, MC, whatever – she’s great.

We had this day in the diary for months, but when it came around it turned out to be one of the coldest, most awful days of the year. The rain was indescribable and it was absolutely bloody freezing. This image sums it up completely. It really was a race against time before Sarah got hypothermia.

When I was deciding locations for this shoot, Castlefield was top of my list. I know this location is so over-shot, but I just absolutely love it and I thought it was a perfect fit to contrast with how colourful Sarah is. I’ve used this location before and wasn’t entirely happy with the results so it was nice to redo it. I would have liked more time here, but a shoot isn’t successful if your model freezes to death.

Realising that pretty much all my outdoor locations had to be binned off, I scrambled my brain for indoor ones. To add to the fun, this was one of the last days of the year before Christmas, so everywhere was heaving. We found this cute pub on the way to The Refuge and learnt the importance of practicing a shot before trying to make it look like it isn’t -2 degrees.

After warming up in The Refuge for a bit, we managed to get some good stuff. The lighting was tough, as the bar is lovely and atmospheric, but we made it work. I love how willing Sarah is just to ‘model’, it makes life so much easier when the focus isn’t on the dancing and is more on the person.

I know black and white is an unusual choice with somebody so colourful but I love the contrast it creates between the image and the person.

We ran out of light really early on and finding a location was not easy, but I love these final shots of the day.

And of course we snuck in a couple over a glass of wine.

Thanks for being fabulous, Spoon!