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When We Had Summer

ERWhittington 10 Comments

It’s feeling all autumnal now, which I absolutely love. The air is cooler and I have somehow acquired a brilliant selection of quirky and funky woollen knit ‘statement’ jumpers and scarves over the last few months, which definitely deserve a ‘casual fashion or portraiture’ shoot or two. I hope I get to do a brown, yellow and gold posing-in-fallen leaves type of shot at some point, though I’m sending myself off to summer (aka California) for October, so we shall see what I manage to achieve around that.

If you’d like to work with me this year, I’m taking bookings for November and December now. I may well be in Australia etc next year, if I can work a few things out, and I do hope to be doing lots of European trips again too (Plus Ireland and Scotland at some point), but that’s way off, so please do email me to say hello at ellarosemuse@live.co.uk if you want to arrange some time with me. I’d love to hear from you!

Some of the following shots were taken on a day which was just such an absolute pleasure to be outside on, with warm glowy light and a gentle breeze so perfect for beautiful flattering shots – so much so that I’ve spotted that photographer Max Operandi has named one of the image files ‘When we had summer’. 🙂

(Ian has also posted the colour version of the shot above over on his redbubble site, and I really really love that one. You can see it here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/maxoperandi/works/8895823-nude-with-a-raleigh)

And more Ian sent me from the day we shot together as part of a Yerbury Fine Art Nude masterclass at Pipewell Hall:

With Zoi:

And proof that I don’t always take things too seriously…

Paint, Feet, Magalazine Cover!

ERWhittington 3 Comments
Sorry for being a bit quiet – things are a bit crazy in my personal world at the moment with a massive upheaval caused by having to very reluctantly remove myself from a situation I’ve been in for 8-and-a-bit years (my entire adult life thus far), and I think I need to clamp my head together to keep all my thoughts from spinning off in different directions. Incredibly annoying to find that I can’t harness myself into writing at the moment, having put aside time especially; seems I’m best at writing when things are peaceful, not dramatic, and otherwise I have the attention span of a self-doubting, mourning-for-something-that-seems-only-to-have-existed-in-my-head-anyway hamster. 
To ‘make up’ for this, I have been buying myself jewellery and being frivolous; spending more on one piece (vintage, rubies, pearls; rose gold being my weakness) than I ever have before. I really want to buy myself a ring next, but we shall see (and currently the ring I want does not exist). I actually rang my Mum from the shop (a little place in Oxford which makes me very happy) for reassurance, asking if I was mad to be spending so much on the very opposite of what I’d gone in for (I went in hoping to find a silver/white gold SIMPLE pendant), and she said it was fine… haha… and that at the very least, gold was an investment… (And I remember my old painter friend telling me gold was the way forward, not that I’ll be buying any big chunks any time soon!!) so obviously my little burst of jewellery buying was highly rational and clever… Jewellery has always been very meaningful and emotionally important for me, especially when either inherited, or ‘worn before’… or bought for me… or bought as a gift for myself… who am I kidding – I just love it. And I don’t really shop very often. (There I go again attempting to justify my splurge!).
Anyway, this is my personal blog, so I can write what I want, but while the urge to express upset and rantings is one I can definitely identify with, I always find it a bit of a shame when people bare their souls online/on facebook etc rather than among friends in person. So, here are some updates I should have posted a while ago, from my ‘to blog’ folder.
First, a painting by Kristian Mumford, recently shown at the Loreto Art Exhibition, 113×78 oil on linen (courtesy of John Evans, who photographed the original image in a crumbling mansion): 

By Holly at Jewelled World, yet another book cover featuring… well, my feet again. Haha. It amuses me greatly that my little tattoo seems not to have been edited out by the relevant department at the publishing house; the absolute testament to the fact that no one ever notices it. I will have to see this in real life to be sure. Well done Holly!

Finally, my mug on the cover of Digital Camera Magazine recently, shot by a competition-winning reader up in Manchester. We had a great day; there were lots of sets and beautiful images made that I really wish I could have seen finished versions of after the shoot, but trust me that there were some absolute beauties! My hair and make up was stunning, I thought, and done by Zan, who was excellent!

I’ve also been told I’m featured in a book out at the moment, ‘Practical Photoshop: Creative Projects’. Someone spotted it in WHSmith for me (thank you!), so I emailed the editor and he’s kindly sending me a copy. I’ve got some lovely shots in waiting which I’ll be excited to show soon, but bear with me if I do disappear for a little while. Thanks for reading!

Painting with Chaos

ERWhittington 1 Comment

These oddball images were taken by Terry Joslin at one of mine and Ivory Flame‘s joint ‘Goddess’ themed days. We had a lot of fun making these; it was my first foray into painting with light, and as Holly had worked on this with Terry before, she was able to give me a quick intro into the method of whipping torches around the parts of our bodies we wanted to illuminate for the camera to see. The results are completely unpredictable. It’s so hard not to want to rush to look at the back of the camera after every frame. Many faces, limbs, expressions, body parts and movements are caught here, in different locations within one frame, and it definitely puts the model in the position of performance artist, capturing something akin to a moving image. At one point I became obsessed with trying to capture my left leg in a high-kick (more difficult than it sounds!)… and then I decided HANDS should feature… Hands hands hands on ourselves and on each other… The results are so creepy, strange, horrific and capture the imagination, I think.

Thanks to Holly for being splendiferous to hang out with in the studio, as always… and I do hope to work more on this with Terry sometime!

Criatura

ERWhittington 3 Comments

I’ve been reading an amazing book recently; one I picked up in a hostel in Costa Rica at the very end of my Central America trip last year, then put back on the bookshelf as it was too thick to carry home (my backpack was 100% full of things collected over the course of 2.5 months; souvenirs, textiles and the most beautiful hammock you’ll ever see (and which I haven’t seen in a while, since England is not the ideal hamaca-hanging arena).

I spend an indecent amount of time on amazon.co.uk, buying new CDs most weeks and occasionally treating myself to new books too… and I bounced through ‘recommendations’ a few weeks ago until the same book caught my eye again. And it could get to me without me carrying it!

I will admit that one of the reasons I initially was drawn to this book in San Jose was the cover. I think the most discerning readers always judge a book by its cover… And I have always been drawn to wolves. Here it is:

‘Women who Run with the Wolves: Contacting the power of the wild woman’, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

Unknown to me at the time, this is apparently a real classic, a bit like ‘The Artist’s Way’ and all that other good stuff. I’m learning a lot from it, and it’s also interesting to consider it in the context of my modelling work (tenuous link ahoy!!). My images often portray what I’m told is a very feminine, soft and sensual ‘prettiness’, and this book explores the other side of that womanly coin; the intuition, power, primal animal attributes and wisdom of women. When you’re feeling a bit too simpering and primped, it’s a good slap in the face. Women should be strong, powerful and deeply creative, not overly passive, girlish and naive; they are deeply knowing, instinctive and in touch with the vital, if they let themselves be.

I’m about a third of the way through, but I’m finding the author’s writing style so beautiful and poetic; so mad, funny and academic all at once. So this is a big fat recommendation. She weaves mythological fairy tales and folklore from all over the world with psychoanalysis and explorations of the unconscious, paradigms, roles and archetypes that can help us know what to do and who is who and who has what intention… and how to stay true to yourself. Cool huh?

I love a word which comes up frequently in the book: ‘criatura’ (creature). I think the following shots compliment the theme, being quite different from straightforward ‘pretty’ or ‘perfect’ representations of femininity, so they are well worth an appearance on my blog; they show flesh and bone, the workings of the body, and are real and mysterious at once. I also think they are beautifully lit, which never hurts. 🙂

By Shane Lewis, shot in Dublin:

On another bookish note, what an amazing idea this is, at a time when libraries here in England are dying/being closed due to cuts and land-line public phones aren’t really very necessary. Apparently these book exchanges are cropping up in rural villages; I imagine my American followers will find this very quaint. 😉

And, I’ve got the guilts about updating this blog, etc., when I still have lots of emails to catch up on. I am getting to them ASAP. Sorry.

Red jellyfish & Black Tutus

ERWhittington 2 Comments

Evening! I’m back in England, where a bikini doth not an outfit make.

I’ve just had a really lazy summer holiday in my parents’ apartment in the south of Spain, where temperatures were, of course, predictably and gloriously HOT, the outdoor pool glitters in the sunlight and makes the perfect arena for weird and watery races and acrobatics (I rarely actually swim), floaty dresses were reluctantly donned to walk around unbelievably beautiful white mountain-backed villages, and hazy sunsets and star-filled nights were the rule. I am so lucky to have that little part of the world to escape to!

(Although, shock horror: I got stung by a jellyfish!!! I couldn’t believe it!! My boyfriend spotted a couple of these small red, alien floaty creatures bobbing around and swam a little way towards them to peer at them, delighted (BOYS!!!). I, cleverly, backed away, only to be lanced in the ankle by one floating around behind me!! It hurt SO much!! I really panicked, as I’ve been to Spain many times but never seen or experienced this there, and I have no real ‘jellyfish knowledge’ (other than on the east coast of Australia, where jellyfish = bad) and didn’t know if it was a serious situation or not… And does ‘red’ not equal ‘I will poison you’ in nature?…

…All this panic was going through my head while my ankle began to feel stiff and swollen, I felt all wobbly, and the pain kept shooting through me over and over again. I think my loud English swearing caused a bit of fuss, so the water quickly cleared, and then was slowly filled up by gallant men with fishing nets, who seemed determined to empty the sea of all possible jellyfish and display them on hot rocks on the beach. Urgh. Anyway, it was all fine, I didn’t die, and my red double-tentacle swipe tattoo has now mostly disappeared completely.

By the way, it was a nudist beach. (Well, tan lines are disallowed in this career, are they not?) Yes, the swimmers absconded quite quickly.

*Sorry to all the people who’ve emailed me over the last couple of weeks* – I allowed myself hardly any internet time while on holiday (there is none in the apartment), but I will be replying to all messages soon now! It’s good and healthy to have time separated from the world of online activity, but it’s been so nice to catch up today on all the many and varied blogs I follow. I’m also planning a few new things and projects to get started with (or wrap up) over the next few weeks – don’t you just love that fresh perspective and buzz you get about your home life after ever just a short time away?

***********

I had a really fun and productive shoot with Richard Spurdens last month, a long-awaited second shoot, while on my trip to Stockport, and the following images have kindly arrived in my inbox, made at Hallam Mill Studios. We shot quite a few different styles, and I think there are many more ideas in the planning.

I have many more photos lined up to show here, as always, including some I love and should have posted weeks ago, and get so excited by seeing the results from the shoots I’ve done! Stay tuned! …And it’s always nice to hear which shots stand out most to my blog readers, so do speak up if you feel the urge! 🙂

My newest black tutu, with my lingerie leotard and pointes:

Stylised portraits:

Shot from above, making the most of a floor:

A new blue skirt I love, and window stories:

Some posing around:

🙂

Modern Day Dramas!

ERWhittington 2 Comments

Hello everyone! Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the summer (if you’re in this hemisphere) and Olympic showdown, wherever you are! I’ve been watching it on and off – SO inspiring to see people with dedication and talent and determination to work hard be rewarded – it’s not often that happens in our society on such a big scale. Looking forward to the closing ceremony tonight as I absolutely loved the opening one. Let’s hope Icke and co are wrong about the satanic occult/illuminati hocus pocus going on behind the scenes and it’s all good fun… *nervous*! My boyfriend is working at the NBA house, finishing today, so hello to you!

It’s been a whole week since I’ve updated this blog, which is a bit unheard of as loyal followers will know. I’ve just been SO busy and that’s been compounded by computer, internet, browser and phone upheavals all happening at once. I am now thoroughly part of the modern world thanks to my little brother, who has built me a new computer (I now have to get to grips with the concept of ‘clouds’, google chrome, magic servers in the sky… all that stuff. Seriously, it is actual magic to me, I don’t understand any of it). A couple of days ago I was set up with a new computer and phone on the same day and literally felt like I needed a lie down. I had to go and sit outside in the garden for a while and sip tea. This new-fangled technology is making my head spin. I will see how I go for a week or so but I might have to plead surrender and request for myself a good old-fashioned microsoft office installation so that I don’t have to get my head around the idea of my novel floating around cyberspace as a ‘google doc’ when it could just be snuggled safely on my desktop. Apparently it will sync itself to my laptop when I take that around on travel/trips. And don’t get my started on google chrome… I move my mouse to one corner and the entire screen changes before my eyes. I have a virus protection software thing that now talks to me (I am under strict instructions to thank it out loud each time it announces its success; I would have done that anyway of course, much like the conversations I have with my sat nav.) And my mouse is wireless. My brother looked at me pitifully when I told him I was proud of the fact that I don’t have twitter, and actually don’t even know what twitter looks like, as I’ve never seen the website. No FOMO here. That said, once I’m set up with technology I’m pretty good at using it as I’m quite intuitive and technology is obviously made to BE intuitive these days; I just don’t understand how any of it works. And that’s fine really, I think.

OK, anyway, so all in all I am now back on top of communication and able to respond to all sorts of nice emails, etc., which is well, nice! 🙂

And here are some more shots from Britalicus, made up in Scotland. Love the drama in these!

(Look! There are 4 of me! Magic! 🙂 )