Wednesday 30 December 2009

Glastonbury: Ice and Ivy

Last week I drove for hours on treacherous ice and snow to get to Glastonbury for a shoot with Ed Melville. Much of the journey was in first or second gear and there were times, during the way back, at which I thought I might never get home!! BUT it was worth the trip and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Ed wanted some Christmassy images with a 'pagan', natural theme, amongst other things. He'd gathered ivy and holly, and I fashioned myself a headdress.





We then went a little bit mediaeval/pre-Raphaelite. I'm really struggling to decide which to upload to my portfolio, so any help here onwards would be appreciated!!





Red and musical, featuring a Nordic lyre (which I could not resist twinging constantly, poor Ed):







Also, I now have these. I'm so sorry I'm bombarding readers of my blog with belly-dance pictures, but I'm having such a blast doing them...







Hope everyone had a wonderous, splendiferous Christmas. HAPPY NEW YEAR and love to all!

Thursday 24 December 2009

Pure Magic!

Merry Christmas everyone!

May it be filled with magic, warmth and wonder.

Tuesday 22 December 2009

Tear sheets

... From the Berkeley Castle Charity shoot. This was to promote charity shops around Christmas time and publicise the wonderful work of the Cotswold Care Hospice (see my earlier blog entry). Recently delivered to my inbox by photographer Simon Walden:










Monday 7 December 2009

Swish, Sway and Storm

Here are some recent shots from time spent with the wonderful, now Oxford-based, Mark Bigelow. We still have plenty more to do and I enjoyed it even more than the first time around. Mark even got to sample my terrible driving, which he was very polite about. For a spatially-aware person I am not very spatially aware.






The last one reminds me of the ocean - tumultuous/turbulent and moody (like all good oceans). I think the skirt (tied material) looks like liquid in some of the shots too.

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Talk amongst yourselves

I absolutely love these two by Russ B, but I didn't even realise I even had them until the other day. The bluebells were amazing, weren't they?





I have so many bluebell images, from the woods near my house, and can remember exactly how it felt to be sitting there. :)

More timely images to follow just as soon as I get a chance to update things properly! Love to all! :)

Monday 9 November 2009

Autumn in Oxfordshire...

l







...makes small dogs very happy.

Thursday 22 October 2009

How it all began...

This AMAZING portrait, 'Profile', is a little slow in being uploaded. It's a painting by the wonderful painter Robbie Wraith. I'm very proud to have been the subject of his work for as long as I was, and hope to return to his studio some time in the future.

Longlisted for the Threadneedle Prize 2009, we were sadly robbed by judges who failed to see the genius... The Times obviously did though, as it was the one image they chose to print alongside an article about the prize!

Anyway, look closely - the man is very talented. :)



Another one, actually:

Belmont House

These were taken by Paul Viant at the beautiful Belmont House. Just some stock images - he wanted a massage/spa feel. It was a lovely day and I look forward to the next.







We also did some others.

Sunday 11 October 2009

Berkeley Castle Charity Shoot

I had the opportunity to help out the Cotswold Care Hospice recently by taking part in a shoot designed to raise awareness of the Cotswold's charity shops in the run up to Christmas. I am hugely pro shopping in charity shops and love to think that the clothes and items I buy there have their own histories. I know some people can be squeamish about this kind of thing, but I would urge anyone to have a look and challenge them not to find something cool to buy!

The shoot took place in Berkeley Castle. I've shot there before and know how jaw-droppingly stunning a location it is, which kind of sealed the deal for me, as well as the fact that it was a chance to work with Simon Walden again. Simon did my second ever shoot so I was keen to show some improvement the second time around! He is a great character - full of energy and enthusiasm.


It was a fun day! From left to right: Marianne (Care Hospice), Simon, Ashley Williams (hair stylist), Marcus (Care Hospice and photographer), Emma, Kas, moi, Rob Golding (photographer), Kate Parker (stylist).

Some shots from the day:








And finally, part of the shoot was a mini Christmas party scene! It felt very bizarre doing this in early October, but somehow I've felt a bit Christmassy ever since. The table was very luxuriously dressed, but, sadly, the wine tasted of sprite..... Ah well. Cheers!!

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Nick Atkins

I've just received some images from Nick Atkins, taken at Cheltenham Film Studios. Very generous of him!










Friday 28 August 2009

Bleinheim

I had a very quick shoot in the lovely grounds of Bleinheim Palace recently with Michael (Voyages2004). He very kindly sent me a few images:








Hope you like them :)