Of Castles & Gold

From one long-standing shooting tradition to another, how lucky I am to have worked again recently with J H on another little adventure – this time in the north of England, around Northumberland!

It was the usual (finely) organised chaos of early starts and day-time cat-naps, so that I lost track of what day was what, where I’d been, who I was… etc… by the end of the fleeting trip, but we had such a lovely time! I love the results – dramatic beach scenes with castles and vistas as the sun winds up or down – and we even managed to squeeze in a trip to Alnwick Castle to see where some of the scenes in Downton Abbey (and Harry Potter) were filmed (and by the way, I hope you’re all glued to your screens this season in case I make a fleeting appearance in a couple of scenes; I’m going to miss it while I’m away and am making my Mum record it all for me!); and for me to be utterly beaten by the world’s biggest ice cream, which covered me in delicious chocolate and had me rooting around for tissues to clean up me/my clothes/the bench. I was such an embarrassment; clearly out of ice-cream-eating practise (I don’t normally ‘do’ ice creams, but had a sudden craving. It was all very ungraceful.).

Anyway, I’m off to Indonesia for a month now, so things here may get a little slow, but will be back and raring to go in mid-November and am (by the way) taking bookings now for November, December and January; and from April onwards. Things are getting all a bit inter-continental again, and I like it! 🙂 I will be snapping away while away on this trip, I’m sure, so my instagram will floweth over in all likelihood, since I am clearly addicted to it these days. (and oh, I am going to miss Sir Fluffalot terribly while I’m away; I hope I survive without his enormous fluffy face looking alarmed at me. I know, I’m ridiculous, but LOOK AT HIS MAGNIFICENT FACE!!!)

OK, those mermaid scenes and so forth, forthwith (thank you so much again J!):

You can also read J’s version of events here. (I’m so glad he posts these threads, not least so I can remember where exactly I’ve been. He knows me well enough to know how terrible I am at knowing my way around places (and knowing whether to turn left or right out of a hotel, despite having been there for three days, for example), so it will come as no surprise that the place names became a slight blur after the early morning starts, even if the places themselves are spectactular; it really is a miracle that I can travel solo as well as I do. Nevermind. If I was the sort of person who would end a blog post with a hashtag, it would be #cantbegoodateverything (but I wouldn’t do that, because then where does the full stop at the end of the blog post go?) – I’ll put it here: .

Lavender Blue

I had a really stressful dream last night in which one of my friends secretly borrowed one of my bellydance costumes (the mermaidy one) to wear to a club night. I was too polite to mention the graveness of the situation; delicate embellishment getting knocked around and ripped off in neon-lit tree houses, etc. I don’t know what she was thinking. I forgave her when I woke up. (Also, I fell in love with a man in a lift.)

Anyway, since we’re (well, I’m, anyway) in the mood for whimsy, here are some images taken by the lovely and talented Elle Hicks in one of my favourite locations of all time, the humble (but glorious) lavender fields here in England. Such a pleasure to be in their midst, even if we did have a bit of trouble at the start of the shoot that threatened to put a stop to the whole thing (I think the less said about that, the better!) 🙂


Make up by me as usual; clever prettiness by Elle:




Additionally, here’s Sir Fluffalot, much famed over on my instagram accounts (here and here), having been disturbed while reading. He’s a bit cross about that, clearly.


Postcards & Telegrams

Hope all your weekends are spiffing. I finished today’s shoot at 9am and had the rest of the day off before tomorrow’s shoot. I think these must have got stuck in some historical vault; some postcards from a shoot with Simon Newlyn, who I will have the pleasure of modelling for again next week on an entirely different theme!

Broken Castles: I Am Not Afraid

New work from Steven Billups in our traditional jaunt to Germany… Always a highlight in my calendar. I really love working with him.

This is ‘part one’ – abandoned castles (film). Parts two and three (water and rivers; flowers made of sun) can come later…

I was listening to this Jill Scott track (<<< click on it for a soundtrack to your viewing!) when I looked through the images he sent me. Her voice was often in my ear in the past and I'm enjoying re-listening to all of her work. Lyrics:

“I’m Not Afraid”

I’m not afraid to be your lady
I’m not afraid to be your whore
I’m not afraid to be your future
I’m not afraid to be your soil
In which you plant your seed
Flowers, they sprout for me
My fragrance in the breeze
You must nurture me please
I’m not afraid to be your baby
I’m not afraid to be your strength
I’m not afraid to be open wide
I’m not afraid to be glutinous
The essence of glue
I will stick to you
Through earthquakes and moods
If ever one thing was true
I’m not afraid to wind it, wind it
I’m not afraid to keep your pace
I’m not afraid to create my queendom
I’m not afraid to take my place
I’m not afraid

As always, it’s best to click on the first image then use the arrow keys to scroll through (it makes them bigger!).

The Unfolding Trees

I got to work with Paride again recently in the massive ancient woodland I have near my home here in Oxfordshire, and enjoyed a quick shoot around the trees – we only did one hour (I don’t mind such short shoots when they are so local and convenient!).

As some of you know, I occasionally put out ‘casting calls’ to alert photographers to my availability for these short, local ‘Nature’s Bite-size Sessions’ when I can, around other bookings, as it’s so nice to make the most of the natural area I have practically on my door step! These shoots are short, punchy affairs (1-3 hours) and it’s all very relaxed, suitable for professional, creative photographers as well as those who are less experienced and want to keep things simple. I also sometimes give a small discount for shoots booked here during these specific periods, as it’s (obviously) very convenient for me. I have some upcoming dates allocated for more of these days dotted around the 24th Sept-4th October. You can email me to book some time or ask for more info: ellarosemuse@live.co.uk.

Here are some of Paride’s shots (thank you Paride for sending me these!):