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Charcoal Metallics & Garden Gates

ERWhittington 9 Comments

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.

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/JJpNC0js0u8&source=uds

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! 🙂

Blue Sky Desert

ERWhittington 5 Comments

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.

Tribal Blues

ERWhittington 2 Comments

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!

Vitality

ERWhittington 2 Comments

Sometimes half the fun of keeping a blog is trying to out-do yourself in contrasting the style of images shown from one blog post to the next. It’s a bit like writing a novel, playing the piano and going for a lovely countryside walk, then having an evening of body-popping/winding to slickedy-slick Justin Timberlake, who I think I might slightly fancy again, maybe (despite not actually fancying him).

(‘I can’t wait to get you on the floor, good looking’ is currently all I can hear in my mind. ‘…Going out so hot, just like an oven…oooooowww’.)

(I’m sorry.)

So here, in total contrast to the previous post, is a shot or four taken by Chris Lloyd at Eye For An Image Studio recently. Loved doing these!

‘I only Feel’*

ERWhittington 3 Comments

Evening! Just a quick update before dinner to show some recent film images taken in Belgium recently by Dimitri, while listening to Radiohead, Blonde Redhead and other such stuff.

I found Dimitri’s way of working quite interesting; he absolutely forbid any posing whatsoever. Instead, I had to just ‘exist’ in front of the camera, go into my own thoughts and feelings and be completely un-self conscious. I think the results are good, and it made me think of the way different photographers work; there is such a range of methods among those I work with. Some come with exact ideas, some have no plan whatsoever, some take control, some want the model to take control and don’t offer any real direction, some want emotions and moods to be acted, some (rarer) want no acting whatsoever. I want to say I think I’ve noticed a very slight divide between British photographers and mainland European photographers in this last comparison, but I don’t know if that sounds pretentious, and I’d need to do more research… And the painter I’m modelling for again here in England is definitely of the ‘just be yourself’ camp, as we were discussing the other day, though perhaps that’s another difference (between painters and photographers). Usually I think modelling is mostly acting… but is it? And when does a stance become a pose?

I always appreciate being able to model while holding my cup of tea…
*I recently found a model’s profile and read the words ‘I never pose, I only feel.’ Made me smile.

House of Flying Daggers

ERWhittington 2 Comments

Hello from Belgium! I’ve just completed my final shoot and am relaxing now here in Brussels. Below are two quick behind-the-scenes shots taken on my phone from a shoot with the lovely Johan Verlust and the excellent make up artist and hair stylist Fraukje Van de Wiele.I’m looking forward to seeing the proper images from this shoot (this was just one set we did, but I rather liked it!). 🙂

Highlights in this rather multi-lingual country have so far included free plates of radishes, free limoncello and ouzo(??) (I didn’t have the heart to tell the enthusiastic waiter I don’t drink, so I drank), a successful foray into the world of the waffle (I quite liked it!), restaurants that claim they have ‘no legumes’ after I settle in and  order the one vegetarian thing on the menu, pasta legumes… Seriously? The entire restaurant has no vegetables? Slightly worrying. (I left, obviously, and stumbled instead into an AMAZING restaurant that made me very happy (goats cheese served on a bed of apple, scattered with honey, strawberries, raisins and walnuts), so if that’s not evidence for the ‘it’s meant to happen’ brigade, then I can’t possibly think what is.)

I have also done some non-foody things here in Belgium, I promise – e.g. I spent a lovely, lazy afternoon dawdling around art galleries – including Magritte’s crazy surrealism – (this was my first trip to Belgium, so I left myself a little bit of free time), and topped up my postcard collection by a humble 47. Yep, I don’t buy shoes (though I am hoping to stumble across a new pair of trainers soon, as my super dooper spin spot dance ones make me just a tad too spinny during planking, etc., and really shouldn’t be worn when driving), I buy art postcards! Seriously, though, it really excites me. I’m going to create my third new massive board of them for my room. I even had a practise run on my brand new hostel-friend’s bed, when I got back. (I’m too cool.) I’ll probably blog a picture of the results, along with my previously made board, in case anyone else shares my joy of ‘I get a print of this amazing amazing amazing painting for 1 euro’. And the Grand Place is beautiful, and somehow reminds me of the incredibly brilliant main square in Mexico City. (Though maybe that’s just because that’s the last ‘main square’ I saw. I don’t know.) I also went to Bruges yesterday with a lovely American girl I met, and we had fun jumping around in front of the windmills on the outskirts of the old town. I think I’m going to have to do a bit of research to find out if the vial of blood we saw really is likely to have belonged to Jesus or not; if so, that’s really quite amazing.

Anyway, I get to wander around Brussels a bit more tomorrow before getting on the eurostar, partly on the search for some statues of some kids (and a dog) pissing, or something. I’ve been promised an equal mix of delight and anti-climax. Haha. On my next trip (I might possibly come back sometime in the summer), I’m going to also look around Ghent and Antwerp, I think, as I’ve heard that Ghent in particular is a great place to visit.

And now, I’m blogging some images I’ve been excited to see and show you! There’s something a bit ‘House of Flying Daggers’ about these images, I think (despite that beautiful film being set in China, not Japan). I was asked to model for a photographer on behalf of his friend who is submitting a design project on Japanese modes of dress set in a western context. This kimono was the one actually worn by Ally on her wedding day; so it was such an honour to wear it! It was so beautiful – and very heavy! – and I learnt that, while the western fashion is generally to show off a woman’s waist, the opposite is true in Japan, or at least in this context; my waist was padded to be in line with my hips!! For what I’m used to, that’s not the most flattering stylistic decision, but it’s interesting, isn’t it? Different aesthetics for different cultures… It was such a fun shoot, and I think the photographer, London-based Will White, made them so stunning! The make up was by Ema Doherty. We got quite excited about all the jumping around… and as soon as Will handed me the parasol, we both immediately knew without speaking that I had to do a ‘caught in the wind’ jump. I’m looking forward to a second shoot sometime soon. And I CANNOT WAIT to go to Japan later this year; I just find the culture so fascinating and beautiful, and there are so many different contrasts and aspects to it. I’ve been wanting to go there for so long!

Which are your favourites?

…And if anyone cares to educate me about some beautiful Japanese films I should watch, please do!

Cascading Light

ERWhittington 4 Comments

A tiny update, rushed before I go away on my date with Belgium tomorrow; don’t mind if I do indulge in a few chocolates while I’m there..! So looking forward to this first visit (I don’t think driving through on the way to Germany as a child counts).

These were all taken at a workshop run by Trevor and Faye Yerbury (well, except the bicycle one, but it seems fitting)…. soooo lovely, I reckon.

and by Ian: