INTRODUCING THE HOURGLASS - Nearly a decade of creating glamorous pin ups & burlesque beauties

The Hourglass® — The original pin up make-over and burlesque photography since 2006. Turning women of all shapes and sizes into glamorous pin ups and burlesque beauties! Nicole Klein tells us more...

How would you describe your photography style?
Classic Vintage Inspired Pin Up and Burlesque

What drew you to this genre over other styles and subject matter?
I adore the 40s and 50s pin up style for it's naughtiness combined with an innocence that modern glamour photography often lacks. I feel it focusses more on the lady in the picture than her physical attributes. It communicates a sexy playfulness and tease without relying on the 'shock' effect of aggressive sexuality. It allows women to play with their cheeky and erotic side without being too overtly raunchy.

Who would you most like to photograph (past or present) & why?
This list could get long! If it doesn't sound too cliche, classic names like Bettie Page have to be mentioned. I would have loved to work with somebody that was obviously so at ease in front of a camera, with or without clothes, but I would have also loved to meet the woman behind the myth. The same holds true for Marilyn Monroe, of course. My personal favourite would have been Vivien Leigh, as I think she was the most beautiful woman that ever walked the earth.

Present ladies I would love to work with are Ludella Hahn, Immodesty Blaize, Polly Rae, Paloma Faith...many more!
But apart form well known names, I LOVE photographing women, who have never posed before. Ladies, who come to me for a bit of extra glamour, to find their inner pin up. Nothing beats the work with 'the girl next door', because you never know what is going to happen during a shoot, where it will go, what pin up personality suddenly appears and what personal story shines through in the pictures.

What do you enjoy most about being a vintage inspired photographer?
As my major focus lies with non-models, I enjoy meeting new people when they step through my door. Watching a transformation take place from somebody who might have walked in wearing a 2015 attire to a vintage pin up goddess and how it affects their self perception.
I also utterly enjoy the vintage pin up community, I have met so many like-minded people over the past nine years in the business and made firm friends within the 'scene' it is simply the largest part of my life and I couldn't imagine being without it.

How would you like to see your business grow & the Vintage Industry develop over the coming year(s)?
My immediate business plans are focussed on the built of my new studio, which is hopefully going to be done over the next few months and I am very excited about the new possibilities that will come with it. I would love to see more 'ordinary' women step through my door, to let me take them on their own personal pin up journey. Of course I also want to carry on working with amazing models, companies and publications and add more of them to my portfolio and maybe branch out into other vintage styles and maybe take my camera even further into the past.

I have already seen the vintage scene grow and flourish over the last nine years that I have been part of it. When I started The Hourglass® the vintage industry wasn't nearly as huge and varied as it is now and I adore the fact that their are more colours to the palette now, then their were in just a few years ago and it seems their are more added every year. I truly hope that with a larger vintage industry we can have a stronger industry, which can work together and feed of each others expertise.

A little more about The Hourglass...
Next year I will be celebrating my tenth business anniversary. I am very proud of the fact that The Hourglass® was one of the very first dedicated retro pin up studios in the modern UK vintage scene and that quite a few of the, later well-known, pin up models came to me for their first ever shoots. I am extremely excited about joining the nominee list of this year's National Vintage Awards and I really hope people will vote for my work.

To vote for The Hourglass click here

For more information:
Webpage: www.thehourglass.eu
FB page: www.facebook.com/TheHourglassPinUp
Twitter: twitter.com/HourglassNicole