A Horse, a Cosmic Skirt, Mints & Buttercups

I was going to serve up some mountainous goodness next, but instead, I have been distracted by yesterday's longest day-ness, such that I'm going to quickly squeeze in a few sunny shots from a recent leisurely afternoon spent once more with Karen Jones. We've worked together many times (and will be doing so again soon), and she's another photographer who's great at coming up with different ideas each time, throwing new props at me and even letting me pose with a horse again (this time it was the rather pretty-headed Joss, who Karen's husband kept reminding me was 'just a big dog'.). Joss loves mints. And grass. :-) I was at the same time having serious befuddlement over whether or not to keep a recent purchase, my 'cosmic skirt' (so called, obviously, because it has planets and stars on it, as all good skirts must..), so I thought I'd put it on and see how it photographs for some gypsy bohemia, avec a bunch of Karen's lavender (and then I thought I'd imagine how that might translate to some hot beach somewhere someday..). We then found a little moss-covered nymph perch, for which Karen covered my head in a wreath of rose buds for a few quick shots... And then, it would have seemed a real shame not to dunk ourselves amidst a field swimming in buttercups.

Any favourites?

Now, today, I WILL master my plans for Iceland and Germany next month. I will I will I will.

La Source, River Adur

After an exciting full-day shoot in a studio with a Norwegian photographer and four other dance models, all posing en pointe and together in various tangles, I met up with Jeremy Howitt for our three-thousandth shoot, a quick themed piece by the River Adur in Sussex.

Jeremy had attempted a version of Ingres' painting, 'La Source', once before, but wasn't completely happy with his results (I personally quite liked his earlier version, but it just wasn't exactly as he'd intended), so he wanted to have another go at it using me as the model.

Here's what I'm talking about - 'La Source', by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres:

As seems to have been a recurring theme in some of my recent shoots (though I don't take credit for it) the weather was drizzly and required wellies, so I took my pink polka dot ones, bought in the Scottish Highlands (a lot less cool than the red hunter wellies I was gifted by a photographer once after a shoot, but nevertheless, pretty cheerful), out for another airing, having slung them readily in the back of my car.

It might look easy and serene, but holding a fairly heavy jug of water over one's shoulder and controlling the angle best suited to photographic purposes while not soaking oneself and turning one's hair into wet, lank waterweeds, while standing in damp, sinking ground is not the simplest of tasks. Blood (from a mysteriously cut finger) and a lot of mud went into this image, too. I thought you should know that.

Seriously, though, I absolutely love this first image, which is shown here in wonderful sepia, a process I think should be flaunted much more, as well as in a 'vintage' colour toning. Feeling like we'd possibly nailed it just a bit too quickly, I insisted that we do a few variations of poses with the jug afterwards (though they aren't quite as strong, probably), and then, on the way back to the car, Jeremy suggested we do a quick 5-min set on the little wooden bridge we'd walked over on the way there. I love the effect of the lens.

All hail the English countryside!

You can read Jeremy's forum post on purpleport about this shoot here: http://purpleport.com/group/share-a-shoot/16936/la-source/. Hopefully we'll be working together again soon - it's always a pleasure and I love the fact that we always do such completely different styles and distinct themes each time.

In other news, I'm reading an absolutely amazing, though-provoking and mind-opening book at the moment, that left me wandering around London yesterday in a total dream-state of awe at all the things and people around me. No, I'm not on drugs. Will maybe talk about it in my next post...

Fires and Falls

Hi everyone. I'm back from a hugely productive trip to the incredibly visually eye-mazing country that is Switzerland (images and video to come!), and raring to update this little portion of the internet.

As part of my trip to Scotland last month, I worked with GDelargy Photography. The plan was that he would pick me up at a point in the Highlands where I'd just finished shooting and drop me off at my accommodation in Glasgow that evening, shooting along the way! What a clever idea, making the best possible use of travel time between locations by shooting at all the beauty hotspots along the way! Scotland, of course, has more than its fair share of picturesque scenes...

...Unfortunately, the amazing weather I'd experienced at the beginning of the trip took a little turn for the worse, and we were quite limited in what we could do, even with my newly-bought pink polka dot wellies from a Highland cornershop.

Still, it was a wonderful drive. G was great company. Glen Coe was beautiful despite pouring rain. We stopped at one location for a possible shoot but the wind was so severe it just wasn't going to happen. Fortunately, G had a couple more places up his sleeve. One was an area of the most exquisite, fiery orange-coloured heather. (I'm calling it heather; it might have been something else.) I squelched my way across the boggy ground, found the most colourful part and lay down in it.

Later, we politely ignored the 'danger, slippery rocks!' signs to get these shots at the Falls of Orchy. I love the strong levels of contrast in these images (I've got such a thing for rich blacks), and my pale skin really pings out of them. Several quick poses here, but I think the first is my favourite. We got to Glasgow late after a quick stop for pizza at Dominoes. I suppose I don't eat there often as I apparently broke normal pizza-buying ettiquette by enquiring about the herbs (i.e. do they count as one of the toppings, since they are listed? What are they?). I started requesting basil and oregano, and was met with a baffled look. Apparently, herbs are just herbs. All the herbs in the world ever go on the pizza, maybe. Fine. It tasted good.

I'd like to get on with arranging a second trip to Scotland for this year as there were a few people whose dates I couldn't match up with, and am considering another (briefer) visit, but am left pondering my diary heavily, wishing I could insert a month or two between August and September. Wouldn't that be amazing?

Happy Monday!

Greens and Lilacs

Just a fleeting 'hello' from me this fine Monday evening, with some images taken by Richard Maxim at Nic Marchant's studio in Duxford, Cambridge, recently. We did a good mix of stuff! I've been packing for Switzerland today as well as deciding on my route for Australia. Can't wait (for both!)!

Time and Timeliness

Evening! Hope you're all having splendid bank holiday weekends (if you have those in your country like we do here)!

I just want to write something quite quickly. A blogging interval or 'thought for the day', if you will...

I have a tendency to be hard on myself. Various people have pointed this out to me at various times in my life, which is kind of them. I used to be a terrible perfectionist, but have thankfully shaken that off quite well, I think (though I do always have a strong urge to improve things I do as much as I can, where appropriate; but 'where appropriate' is, of course, the crucial thing!).

Anyway, I've been feeling quite stressed about the level of admin required by this modelling malarky, recently, and so my natural thought pattern declares that there must be something inadequate in my ability to manage my time. But this evening, I took it upon myself to wonder if, actually, I'm really quite good at managing my time (else I wouldn't be able to be writing a novel, work as a professional model, be learning two languages, be taking music lessons, be reading a book, be attending dance classes, making my nephew-to-be a handmade blanket, maintaining a busy social life AND managing to sleep), so perhaps, a bit of statistical analysis was in order.

Seeing as my specific problem is often that I worry I am letting people down by letting emails (emails which I'm grateful for, and am interested in, and enjoy receiving) linger in my inbox far longer than they should, and that I am occasionally on the end of the, absolutely justified, 'You don't seem to have read my message sent on the Xth of the Xth' messages (perhaps I have since visibly logged-in to a networking site through which the message was sent). Don't get me wrong; sometimes I reply to a message within minutes, depending on what I'm doing, how near the computer I am, how easy the message is to reply to, etc.. But sometimes it takes me quite a bit longer to get through things. It turns out there's a reasonable excuse for this...

 I decided to count how many emails I received on one particular day.

I took the 24th (two days ago) at random, and counted that I had received 98 emails on that day. I looked through again, and counted 70 emails out of the 98 which required a direct response on my part (either a considered reply or an action) - so, effectively, I received 70 different contacts from what can be considered 'clients' in one single day, each one requiring my response.

The rest (the remaining 28) were easily deleted (e.g. notifications of posts being added to forum threads I'd contributed to, before I'd switched off that notification feature). So that's 70 emails in one day requiring my attention and reply (many of which require research before a reply is possible), while also being on the phone to my agency and speaking on the phone to two photographers about arrangements for forthcoming things. I also spent some of the day arranging future modelling trips (looking up flights, accommodation and transport options).

Did I mention that this modelling email account is just one of three email accounts I have and check regularly? I have another personal account (for that social life I mentioned) and another, more formal, one, for important/other/some social matters. (There is a fourth, set up specifically for my 'Ella Rose' facebook notifications, but I never look at it ever, so it doesn't count.)

...Why am I writing this? It might seem like a thinly-veiled boast ('look how many people are interested in my work and want to hire me!', '70 emails in one day - aren't I great?!') etc; I really don't want to sound like that; that's not the intention of this blog post. It's more just to acknowledge that this stuff isn't always easy, and to say to anyone to whom it may apply: please be aware of how much work goes into modelling behind the scenes. Please don't hate models if they take a little while to reply or keep you waiting longer than your ideal. Bear in mind that this was technically a day off - and a Saturday! - and that this is just one day (I haven't counted statistics for other days to compare how average this day was, but it felt like quite an average day; there may often be more, or less correspondence per day); one day out of an entire week, out of an entire month... etc.

I don't mean to sound angry or stressed; I'm actually just quite amused that I had questioned my own ability to be on top of emails so often, without stopping to consider what, exactly, it was that I was asking of myself, and relieved to be able to remember that I'm only human! Ha!

I'm sure many of you feel the same way and have similar demands if you are self employed (I'm hardly alone in this!) and the idea of 9-5 working hours (rather than everything having to be instant in this immediate, seven-day week modern smartphone world!) is not a norm that you can easily relate to, either. I'm still glad I'm self employed and doing a job I find fun and creatively stimulating, despite all the work.

But as a result of this highly scientific experiment... ;-) I certainly feel more comfortable and justified in stating on my various online sites that although I try to respond to emails within a few days, I do sometimes struggle.

Anyway, much love to all... Thanks for all those wonderful enquiries that keep my modelling world turning, and many thanks to those who patiently accept that things can take a couple of days or three or four (and even more when a model is travelling for work with shaky wifi connections or limited time in the evenings to relax between assignments!) to respond to. And do tell us models if a reply is urgent; we'll prioritise your message if it's time reliant and you tell us so. :-)

P.S. Some gorgeous new images coming your way which I can't wait to share!

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!