Balancing Act

I've just finished packing for my third shoot with a photographer who's working with me this time in my nearby ancient woodland tomorrow morning, just for an hour. Having amused myself with the curation of some very fanciful outfits (I love it when I'm given free rein with styling, even if there are only so many sets you can get through in such a quick session!), I thought I'd update with some images sent to me which were taken in Vienna.

(I need to get myself back to Vienna again soon - SO much to see and do there!)

As you can imagine, some of these were a bit challenging, but challenges are fun, are they not? :-)

(Organisation and set design by Roland Pum)

By Peter Eibler:

By Manfred Klejna:

More by Peter Eibler:

Hope you are all having wonderfully balanced weeks.

Moss, Kicks & Lochs

Back when I started modelling, Alex Ingram's work was way up there at the top of the 'inspire' list; I saw his beautiful work everywhere and hoped I might work with him one day. I had been in touch with him ever since (and we have the message history from 2009 to prove it!) but I never quite made it to his high-up land of lochs and glens until a couple of weeks ago, when I finally met and worked with him. And what a good thing I finally made the journey! Alex is a wonderful host, taking such care to keep me comfortable and happy during my 2-night stay, and even packed me off with a surprise packed lunch afterwards (he did his absolute best to use up all the remaining peanut butter in my rolls since he hated it so much - fine by me, the peanut butter addict!). During a shoot, his way of working comes from years and years of experience and understanding; he is able to visualise a shot (or work with the visualisation of the model), set up, and take only a few frames in order to capture the image - which, in Scotland's unpredictable weather conditions is an invaluable skill! Despite changing weather (sunny-ish at first then downpours!), we managed to get some great images! I'm so looking forward to seeing what we can come up with on location in Iceland this July!

Alex sent me images from the day in multiple versions, but I'm leaning towards sepia for most. I think sepia is under-used!

Alex wrote this about the high-kick shots above: 'As we were walking between locations in a remote scattered deserted village high on a hillside I mentioned to Ella Rose to say if she saw anything as a potential location, and within seconds she said this tree. This high kick is totally free standing although it may not look that way, she had to be well away from both the trunk & branch to avoid their shadows. Take into account the rough ground which was soft, and a bog just a few feet away, it was an amazing feat to achieve.'

Also, don't let the blue sky in the colour shot of the tree above fool you too much... It was beautiful at that point, yes, but torrentially raining for much of the rest of it!

But first, back to the good weather, some restful nudes on moss:

Squeaky clean (and more sepia!) portraits in Alex's lounge - aka temporary rain shelter:

With these next few (the last of the day's output!), I thought we could go for a rainy/misty beautiful/desolate effect, and Alex knew what I meant and found the perfect spot. His amazing home location meant it would have been a crime not to have posed next to the loch near the bottom of his driveway, and we decided we could just go for it and shoot in the rain for the last few, walkie talkies 'n' all! Amazingly, my hair doesn't really look wet. The physics of weather makes no sense sometimes. :-)

Nearby (a few steps away) the local sheep were gathered, soaking wet, and wondering what on earth we humans were doing. Throughout my trip to Scotland I became besotted with all the tiny lambs I saw (I saw some which seemed only a few days old; I'd held a lamb before but never seen such tiny ones!!). I really really want a little lamb as a pet. It would be the most loved lamb in the whole wide world, without a doubt. Siiiigh. I could walk it and everything.

Thank you Alex!

Sharps, Flats, Shapes & Curves

Another quick update, hot off the press after a weekend off which has revolved around a family dinner, seeing friends, lunch dates, a vintage fair, walkies and the management of french pronouns (le/la/les before lui/leur, but vous/me/nous before le/la/les. FYI) with my buddy Michel Thomas and his slightly irritating female student who delivers every phrase in a breathy monotone, I just wanted to show a collection of shots taken recently at mine and Ivory Flame's 'duo' day at Eye For An Image Studio in Banbury. The theme was 'Shapes and Curves'. Between us, we've definitely got some shapes and curves; and it's nice to hang out with my good friend Holly in front of the lens.

Four photographers attended, one after the other, and I'll post some of my personal favourites from those I've been shown.

Hit this (Satie's Gnossienne 1) for an instant soundtrack as you scroll down; you'll probably recognise it from various films, including the gorgeous Chocolat (which is fitting, as I've just finished my Easter chocolate): 

(I've requested a bit of light relief on the side while I finish learning Liebestraum, the ultimate romantic masterpiece, due to my utter inability to sight-read after a ten year gap making it a bit of a sudoku-style brain training practice not to mention the necessitation of finger strength excercises that make my wrists want to die, a bit; it is getting there though and sounding better and better each day, but Satie is always so evocative and beautiful, and pleasingly simple to pick up on the first run-through, thank God. So now I have the ultimate procrastination piece to linger over when my frustration at the same chord appearing twice in the same bar but with every single note accented differently starts to bubble... C FLAT IS NOT A NOTE. NOR IS E SHARP. Let's call it B and F, shall we? AARRRRGGGHHHH. F DOUBLE SHARP, SURELY, IS SIMPLY G. I'd been away from the game so long that these 'amusing', 'helpful' quirks have had to be relearned until they can be calmly ignored/memorised, which brings me to...)

By James ('CalmNudes'):

By Mark Bigelow (who is now doing lighting workshops on his improvisational way of working; it's a lot of fun to prance in his playboxes of shadows!):

By Prashant Meswani:

And by Eddie Ray (including a single exposure during which two become three):

Thanks photographers! :-)