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A Horse, a Cosmic Skirt, Mints & Buttercups

ERWhittington 3 Comments

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

ERWhittington 2 Comments

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 J H for our three-thousandth shoot, a quick themed piece by the River Adur in Sussex.

J 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 J’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

ERWhittington 2 Comments

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!

Moss, Kicks & Lochs

ERWhittington 4 Comments

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!

Firebird

ERWhittington 3 Comments

In hindsight I’m slightly amazed (if I do say so myself) that I managed to help create the images below while feeling as unwell as I did back in March this year (it was just a cold/flu thing – I was a bit of a wreck but determined to show up as the previous date had already been called off due to snowy roads!).

Photographer Vanessa Mills and designer Asia Prusinowska wanted images with fire, movement and passion, and I think we achieved that!! The purpose of the shoot was to showcase the conceptual side (the drama) of Asia’s designs, and we did three separate pieces during the session. I was pinned into the clothes, which flowed and dazzled in felt and silk as I danced, and Vanessa’s use of blur and capture made for some stunning, dynamic shots! I love this way of working! (All taken in the black room of The Works Studio in Cambridge.)

I think the first and last are my favourites.

(This post, published earlier then almost immediately snatched away from public view, is reposted – with thanks – now that Asia’s designs are ready for public viewing.)

Welsh Rain, Reflections

ERWhittington 5 Comments

I had a great two days with Richard Spurdens in January, shooting at a grand house in Wales. We’ve worked together a couple of times before and I think we make a good team, having lots of fun and getting lots done in the process! Richard is always brimming with ideas and always happy to go along with mine too – and having packed a large suitcase full of bits and pieces, including my Indian wedding sari and the showgirl costume I bought in Las Vegas, I had plenty for us to work with in the various mini locations scattered inside the house. We worked outside too – in the pouring rain, I might add; I don’t normally offer to pose nude in the rain, but it seemed such a shame to waste the opportunities out there!

Richard has kindly sent me some of my favourite results, which means I get to show them off! 🙂 One of the images has already had a couple of successes/acceptances, so that’s good, too!

My Vegas costume:

Dreaming through a window…

(These were great in colour too, and I’m sure Richard won’t mind me taking the credit for suggesting we switch on the light inside to create that warm glow… 🙂 )

A ghostly movement idea we played around with (doesn’t the map in the background make the shot? I’ve got such a thing about maps, myself).

 Sari (I’m really quite sulky-looking in the first, for some reason):

Some dance-ish hair flicks at the indoor (overly chlorinated, but gorgeously steamy) pool…

Outdoors in that rain…

…’Refreshing’.

And some ‘miscellaneous’ images… 🙂

(Having to duck underneath the chandelier in the shot below made not slipping off the sloping shelf-thing even more difficult than it already was. ‘First world problems’. What a nice house it was!)

Thanks so much Richard for another fruitful experience!