Thursday 28 March 2013

Pipe Cleaners and Autumn Leaves!

Evening! The owl-eyed among you may have noticed my rapid pulling-down of my most recent blog post, 'Firebird', which featured some extremely cool dance-y studio stuff. Unfortunately I was told that the designer needed her pieces to be kept under wraps until June, so the blog post will be reappearing around then, by which time the shots will be a fun and fresh surprise again if your memories are as terrible as mine.

Today, I'm bringing you some fun and cute stock shots! It's always nice working with photographer Paul Viant at Belmont House. Such a gorgeous, shabby chic country house; I feel quite at home there!! The main theme was 'crafts', so out came the pipe cleaners, the scissors, the wool and ribbons, the dried leaves and the upholstery projects.

Behold the autumn crafting, day dreaming and the blowing on windows to draw hearts on the glass! :-)














We did lots of other little sets as well, including one where I was asked to lie outdoors on a huge, damp (but blissfully comfortable) bed of leaves, acting as though I was taking pictures of myself on my cameraphone. So I did...


Also, just a little thank you to everyone who is so patient when contacting me. I'm working a 7-day week at the moment, doing my usual impression of being more than one person at once, with several projects on the go, and my correspondence speed is far from ideal (it's never something I'm amazingly proud of, I'm the first to admit - though it's not through lack of effort, I assure you); though I do always get things done! :-)

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EDIT:

A little while later: inbox zen.

Screengrab:


I would like to thank: my friends and family, the tiny dog that sat on my lap for most of this 6-hour email session, the chair for supporting my bum (though it got a bit numb at times), my brand new polka-dot 2-person teapot WITH INBUILT FILTER (full of, variously, Earl Grey, Orange Blossom and English Rose) and my own sheer unadulterated determination to be good. Exquisite!

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Charcoal Metallics & Garden Gates

Hot off a high from starting to learn this piece by Liszt (Liebestraum/Dream of Love)...

(Press play and listen all the way through... So far I'm up to the 1min20 mark in the video below. I'll be sure to update you once I've mastered it, since I'm sure you're all on the edges of your seats about it.
Such a classic, but always surprisingly beautiful every time I hear it.)

... I bring you these images by Steven Bruce. I really enjoyed modelling for Steve - he got some gorgeous stuff and he and his wife are such nice, bright and warm people. We shot mainly in the garden of the place they were staying at, in California. The images are from one part of the session; the other involved a double act; I have been promised more and can't wait to see them too.









I just think those mono conversions, depths of field and textures, especially in the last two, are so lush; kind of fluid but retaining sharp details. I think they look charcoal-y metallic! :-)

Friday 15 March 2013

Blue Sky Desert

Aaaah, Joshua Tree National Park. How we enjoyed you. :-) I have such good memories of this place - I was soooo excited to see it! In particular, one happy (but cold) evening was spent lying on top of rocks staring up into the dark sky, watching for shooting stars, huddled under layers and hiding whenever the (very occasional) car came through, pretending to be rocks. Haha. And I have a clear memory of someone sighing in the dark, saying they'd just yawned and hurt their jaw, and we laughed when I pointed out the importance of 'warming up' before yawning. Looking forward to hanging out with these friends again!

The following images are more daytime-orientated, evidenced by that unfamiliar (to Brits) azure hue in that-there upward space. You can probably get a sense from these images of how bright the sun was, even early in the morning. I saw two coyotes in this desert!

Taken by New Zealander Brian Connor, with thanks for taking me there.








Saturday 9 March 2013

Article, and Gladiator

I'm watching Gladiator today. Brilliant!

In other news, this article about me, written by David Bollt (creator of a great-looking model/artist site) is particularly cheering... Some incredibly kind words about my work, followed by my answers to some interview questions on what I love and dislike about this job... Some of the content was taken from an email I sent to a fellow model I met once,  on the subject of 'balance', as we were emailing at the same time as I was thinking about my responses - and we models talk! - but mostly it's a bit 'stream of consciousness'-y.

Link to article on Model Society.

Or content below:


The Muse: Ella Rose, Nude Modeling, Dancing, and Writing

Ella Rose: Nude Model Magazine Article
Images of Ella Rose shine like gem stones in the portfolio of one talented photographer after another. Ella is a golden thread that weaves itself through the artwork and photography of many renowned creative talents. Her images radiate a warm natural light, and she seems to feel perfectly at home expressing herself as a nude model.
Although she has a romantic spirit, Ella is also very practical and manages her modeling career with discernment and great care. Ella is a very rare type of fine art model, who has turned her passion for modeling into a ongoing source of personal fulfillment, as well as a thriving full time career. One of her biggest challenges, is balancing her passion for modeling with the many other things she is strongly inspired by, including dance, writing and music.
Nude Model and fine art model: Ella Rose
Ella thrives on adventure and new experiences. She has a poetic way of relating to the world and savors the magic of special moments. Her modeling is a diary that she shares with the world. Her images are a record of her travels, her self expression and spirit.
“You might have wandered around the streets of Paris, but have you posed nude at 3am with the Eiffel Tower as your backdrop? You might have driven past some stunning vast deserts or dry lake beds, but have you laid down on the cracked earth with a view of the stormy sky above, or negotiated your way through heat, cacti and rocks in the name of photography? Have you got up close and personal with ancient, enormous rainforest trees? Or bathed in a bed of bluebells in the English springtime? When I look through my portfolio it’s just a huge catalogue of some amazing moments I’ve been lucky to experience.”
Ella Rose is a wonderful example of how fine art modeling and nude modeling can make the world more beautiful. Her images portray a distinct feminine beauty that is light, graceful and natural. Connoisseurs of human beauty enjoy her work, savoring artistic modeling at its very best.
Ella Rose: Fine art model and nude model
Q: What effect do you want your work to have on people?
I want people to find the images I’m in beautiful, interesting, or powerful. I also want them to be inspired in some way, to create something themselves, to know or feel something new about humanity via what I am projecting.


Q: What inspires you? And what does it feel like to be inspired? 
Being inspired is a feeling of being energized and excited. Anything can inspire me, in real life, or my imagination. On a photo shoot, a photographer with ideas, something they want to try (whether that be a new lighting technique, a post processing technique, a mood or atmosphere, process or goal) can be inspiring, or music in a studio, or landscape or the location. I am probably most inspired when doing something that is new to me, in some way.
Q: What is the most rewarding thing about modeling?
There is so much I love about this job. I have never been able to picture myself working for someone else in a conventional setting (and for me I am largely unable to do something unless I have first envisioned it; a fact that comes into its own when learning new dance routines; it’s a matter of the brain getting there first, then the body), so ultimately, the fact that I am self employed, in control of my own schedule, able to plan my working week how I like, is so liberating and wonderful.
Secondly, I get to be creative. I get to play an array of different roles for the camera, explore aspects of myself, womanhood, character, narratives and stories. I get to look back at images of myself when I’m 95 and think ‘huh, that was cool – I remember that day!’ (and being frequently immortalized by someone who has been commissioned to paint the most prominent members of our human society is very high up on that ‘proudest moments’ list!), I get to inspire people and be the catalyst for their own creativity and watch them surprise themselves with what they can capture. I also meet an amazingly wide range of people under the umbrella of ‘artists’; and, seriously, I have met some incredible eccentrics, some more down to earth, some meticulous techno geeks, people with crazy energy and huge enthusiasm, others more calm and gentle, some drifters, some dreamers, people who have influenced me in ways they might not realize.
Q: What is the most difficult thing about modeling?
I think, for me, the most difficult thing about modeling concerns a question of ‘balance’, and that’s something I’m sure many people in all walks of life can relate to. Aside from the fact that, as any full time model can tell you, the ‘admin’ side of things takes up so much time (I am always a bit behind on emails simply because I get so many (which I am of course grateful for), and there always seems so much to do, seeing as I am my own manager, PR, booker, PA, website creator, travel agent, schedule planner… etc., and that’s alongside the actual photo shoots, which themselves are alongside real life!), I have so many other interests and dreams I want to simultaneously pursue (music, writing, languages, dancing, creating…), that I’m continually reassessing my life/work balance and trying to better arrange my time between different hobbies. I’m a very disciplined and organized person, so I generally do OK with time management, but I recently decided to stop and look at things in relation to who I am as a person and try to arrange my time and priorities to reflect that and give me the best chance of feeling fulfilled and getting the things done that I want to do.
Modeling can be all consuming. I have learnt not to particularly try to impress others; I can’t say I ever particularly did try to do that, but I am more aware of the ‘not trying’ now. It would be extremely easy to get sucked into doing ‘more and more’ and ‘better and better’, more ‘shocking’ stuff, in a way that is not positive in the context of my own life. I’m proud of my portfolio and definitely take pride in my work, but I have never felt I’ve reached my full potential with it or done everything I could. (Perhaps that’s a good thing.) Modeling has a very addictive aspect (for someone like me who has an ambitious personality) – it would be so easy for me to say ‘forget the novel, I’m gonna show everyone what I can REALLY do!’), do some extreme self-marketing, shoot with everyone whose work I admired, get some killer shots, make tons of money… but whenever I start having thoughts like that I remind myself that what I’ve done is sufficient as it is and it’s unfolding well at a natural pace, I’ve been part of some excellent images already, that modeling is not solely who I am, and that it’s OK not to feel like you’ve DONE everything possible if it means I am also able to spend time on other things I love, so for me, modeling less than I quite easily could and taking control over those urges is my way of putting some perspective into practice after thinking about what I want to have achieved in 6 or 12 months time.
Finally, balancing creativity with the fact that modeling is a job, is also a difficult trick to conquer. I don’t take bookings from photographers whose work (or personalities) I really don’t like (this has nothing to do with where they are along the beginner-experienced spectrum; it’s only a question of taste/intention) simply because it’s not worth the money to me to have a bad experience doing something I love. I don’t want to jeopardize my enjoyment of playing the role of a ‘muse’, so it’s something I am conscious and careful about. It’s a difficult issue though; you can’t pay bills with pretty images, and I know that I am lucky that I can pick and choose what bookings I take to an extent.
Ella Rose nude modeling and fine art modeling
Ella Rose is a professional (traveling) model. She is primarily an art model but experienced in dance/movement, nude, fashion, lingerie, sports/fitness, commercial/lifestyle, wedding, beauty, portraits and artistic/classy glamour modeling. Ella is also an accomplished writer with a BA (Hons) degree in Philosophy and English Studies. You can also find her work at Model Mayhem.
See more of the Ella Rose modeling portfolio right here at Model Society.
Also be sure to visit her website: http://www.ellarosemuse.co.uk.

Monday 4 March 2013

Tribal Blues

Hi everyone! It's been such a busy few weeks for me, as always. Pretty much every minute is accounted for (in theory) and various and diverse goals are getting closed in on, with lots of fun being had along the way as these goals are things are all about what I want and love. I'm such a disciplined hermit, at the moment, and love it! My sociable time is currently carefully rationed out into Tues, Weds and Thursdays (friends and dance classes/rehearsals) mostly... And it feels good!

I've also had some hugely exciting family news recently (I'm going to be an auntie!!!!!!), while recent small pleasures have included dairy milk fruit & nut, and smugness at having a car with an anti-hijack mode, since after getting in my car to drive home at 4am after a night out on Sat, a drunkard decided he definitely, 100% without a doubt was going to have a lift from me 'just a few blocks' and promptly started pulling at my car doors (passenger side) in an aggressive craze. I had hesitated, until then, trying to assess if he was a threat or just a man in need... But yeah... My hand slammed down on the central locking button so fast as he lurched towards the car door, he just couldn't understand why the doors weren't opening. I'm not totally sure who won that race anyway, so I just thank the fact that my car only opens my driver door when I enter it unless I press the button twice. Ha!

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Interlude: Here's some classic Erykah Badu:


And here's a beautiful, sultry song by India Arie (singer of the more recent 'I am not my hair'), whose first album 'Acoustic Soul' I listened to roughly 5000 times about 10 years ago, especially this song, 'Brown Skin'. The whole album is stunningly beautiful.


And to finish off my little trio of smooth-jazz interruption, this killer love poem by Jill Scott was an old favourite, track numero 3 on the album. (And she was brilliant live!):



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(I'm sorry, I don't know what's happening here... This is not a music blog. I get distracted...)

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(The stars mean something new is about to happen.)

.................OK, here are two new photos of me, taken by the very creative Rayment Kirby in Sussex, where I'll be again at the end of May. I really love this first one.



I have so many more new images to show as always, but I'm being minimal and just putting two out there today.

In other news, I'm thinking of going to Borneo!