Clouds and Poppies

Ah, isn't naming post titles one of the most fun parts of writing a blog? A bit like having children is mainly so that you can call your offspring fun names? Yes? (Ezra - current middle-name fave for male child numero one, thereby necessitating the creation of a second child in order to put into use the middle name 'Inigo', since I don't think I want children with more than one middle name each). Hhm.

Hellooo! It's been soo beautiful today!! And I am extra happy for having had my hair lightened again today, although I thought it was a bit of a shame to be sitting inside under a hairdresser gown for the best part of the afternoon... My hairdresser is incredibly patient, putting foil after foil through my mane. Even though I WISH I was a sultry brunette, and of course my natural hair colour is brunette (but not really the sultry kind, I suppose), I just love being blonde. I might be going to south america (possibly Colombia and Ecuador) for a bit as part of my travels later this year, in which case being blonde will be a mistake, but hey, the worst that happened to me in Mexico City was a butt-grab in the metro (the male-female station divide was 'out of order' that day - I imagine it makes a good difference. The friend I'd made that morning swore at him for me in Spanish), and a bit of occasional attention doesn't scare me so long as I'm careful and don't actively seek it out.

...So anyway, this is all getting to a big hint that I will be donning my backpack again from October for some west-ward gallavants, and that I am welcoming bookings here in England for August (I'm currently free for just a few days at the beginning and the end) and September (Scotland trip pending, depending on confirmed interest from a few photographers and some specific date-setting); so UK photographers, please do get in touch and fill up my diary for the rest of the year!

***

When I went down to Sussex recently (a trip which started with the beach pebble shoot in Brighton with Jeremy Howitt) I also got to work for a second time with Rayment Kirby (previous shoot here), and he and his wife very kindly put me up for the night in their house. I've been lucky enough to have been chosen as one of the models to be in another one of his books, which is going to have the theme 'mystery and contrasts'. Looking forward to seeing it completed! He wanted to achieve a good range of images with me, hence the very mixed bag below!

As with the last time, there are both 'straight' shots and a few which get 'transformed' and arrive in my inbox bit by bit, which is always fun (most of these were done in camera though, using clever equipment for effects)!

 (I love my sari!)

Bedroom Glamour

Sorry for letting that last post run a while, but in between a brilliant trip to Germany's Black Forest as well as a great little trip to the Manchester/Stockport area, I wanted to allow the news of the new book to take precedence for a while here in my little online space. :-) However, my desktop is BURSTING with new images from various people which I can't wait to show on here, so... onwards!

It was lovely to hear from Tony Ornstien, a photographer I have worked with quite a few times but hadn't seen in a while, a few weeks ago and recently I went over to his and his wife Jennifer's wonderful, mad house (it is crammed with enormous, intriguing art, and built like a 'train carriage', which means you walk through a seemingly endless stream of differently-styled rooms all in one direction). I was booked for another dose of photography, since Jennifer requested some new art for their walls. It's always fun to work with this duo, and Tony wanted to create some natural, intimate, relaxed, elegant bedroom ('boudoir', maybe) scenes. This style is intimate, and somehow classical and retro at once, and the atmostphere is vaguely similar to the image I have down the side of my blog here, 'Bis' by Pamela Hanson, which I (obviously) love. Liberated and friendly and natural. We found that the trick was to act, move and actually perform the particular movements or mini-narratives, rather than pose stiffly in a scene, and there was a lot of silliness involved.

The final set was the ultimate in multi-tasking at the end of a shoot; clearing up my things and modelling at the same time... :-) I am pleased with many of these (and there are a lot of shots - trying to decide on one or two favourites for my website!) and I hope to visit Tony and Jennifer again sometime soon!

P.S. To the person/bot who keeps trying to spam my old posts with vacuous automated comments about how 'informative' and 'well put together' my content is, and then suggesting I take a look at their loans website, please kindly fuck off. If you knew how strongly I felt about people who make money through interest, you'd understand how liberally I am deleting your ridiculous attempts to advertise your probably-virus-filled evil website through my ART blog.

Public Service Announcement: a Book!

I'm so excited to have in my hands the fruit of several months' coordination and the physical result of some extremely generous and kind photographers. I'm holding (well, not while typing, I suppose, but it's here on my desk) a collection of some of my favourite images taken over the last three years, during which I've been practising my happy deviation into a life of art modelling.

I've mentioned before that I thought it was sad not to have many actual prints to show for my hard work, unlikely adventures and gloriously fun modelling frolics so far, and that computer files didn't really cut it; and that I had decided to put together a photography book for myself to look at when I'm old (or anytime between now and then...). I've now managed to finish this project.

The book focuses on just one theme; it uses shots from one of my twelve website galleries, 'Faerie', and collects 29 natural, gentle, romantic and pure shots of me as the nude, female figure in a loose 'garden' setting; in tall grass, entwined in trees, in pools of water, surrounded by flowers, in faerie queen headdresses, in pre-Raphaelite forest guises, in the cool, shady dappled light of Mediterranean gardens and against huge, jurassic plants. I've never made a book before, so this is a great feeling, and just so wonderful to be able to own!

I'm so grateful to the photographers whose images are printed in this book, and although this was definitely created just as an indulgence for myself, as something to keep, I do have permission to make this book available for others to purchase. If anyone would like to buy themselves a copy, some money from each book bought goes to Amnesty. If you agree with me that physical prints are sooo much more satisfying to look at than online virtual ones, and you like the idea of owning a version yourself, having it adorn your bookshelf and perhaps provide some visual and artistic inspiration, you're welcome to preview it online and see what you think.

Huge thanks to the following. Click on the links below to see more of their work:
Rebecca Parker
John Evans
Paul Bartholomew
Rayment Kirby
Voyages2004
Jeremy Howitt
DB Images
Dave Aharonian
Keith Cooper (website pending)
Imagesse
Robert Farnham
Gregory Brown
Michael Cordiez
Sean Buckley
and Pat Brennan

...I hope you like it. I'm so glad I finally did this and am already thinking of making a second book sometime in the not-too-distant future... Just need to choose a gallery/theme and start to gather my favourites!

Pebbles

Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone had a nice weekend... I ended up on a boat yesterday for a friend's birthday party on the river. Lots of fun (and cider and pimms!) and I got to drive for some of it!

Here are some recent shots by Jeremy Howitt, taken on Brighton beach! This was the first shoot of my trip to Sussex at the end of June and resulted in a little monochrome mini-series (and salty beach hair! :-)).

Jeremy's plan was to keep these in monochrome, but I couldn't help wondering what they'd look like in colour (despite the uneventful sky; it was a hazy morning) and after a couple of to-and-fro edits (me vaguely suggesting, Jeremy miraculously realising my ideas with the magic of technology), this colour image is what we came up with. I love the peachy-pink blaze at the top of the frame and the soft pastel hues.

 

Another great shoot - thanks Jeremy!