Birthday publication!

It was my birthday on Monday – thanks everyone for the millions of good wishes I received in internet land! I felt very loved, and decided I was totally happy to have a birthday after all. I always feel a bit funny about birthdays, but genuinely had such a nice day, starting with a hair modelling shoot which left my hair all sculpted-yet-floaty-and-whimsical for the rest of the day and evening (proper blog post with images to come soon!), then a ridiculous amount of all my favourite types of cake (a heavy emphasis on fondant fancies) with my family, then cocktails with some good friends in a gorgeous Moroccan themed bar on the Cowley Road in Oxford. Lush! So happy, and my friends got me some flippin’ lovely presents and handmade cards (I have such creative friends who always impress me! I just wish I’d remembered to get my camera out BEFORE the very end of the night when only a few of us hardcore Monday-nighters were still celebrating) – jewellery, notebooks, tea cup & saucer set(!)… they all know my colours and taste so well, hehe. My Mum also bought me guide books on Central America, as I’ll be having a bit of a gaddabout later this year. Tres exciting.

In other news (well, it might not be news to you if you’ve seen my facebook wall recently, since it keeps being filled with photographers posting that they’ve noticed me in their favourite mag!), a shoot I recently did for Digital Camera magazine (photographed by photographer and editor Ben Brain) resulted in being published on the UK & US covers of the April issue, plus multiple shots (including some little ‘behind the scenes’ images) spread over 14 pages inside. The main feature is called ‘Shoot Stunning Fine Art’, so it’s full of tips and know-how gems for photographers branching out into this genre.

I’ll post some of the tearsheets below, and maybe finish with cake:

🙂

‘Swan Song’, ‘To the Distant Beloved’ and ‘Winter Journey’

I worked recently with Patrick Allen, photographer and classical recording engineer/producer with Opera Omnia Productions on two CD covers. The two CDs Patrick needed images for are Schubert’s Schwanengesang/Beethovern’s An die ferne Geliebte and Schubert’s Winterreise. The theme was 19th-century romance; unrequited or unnattainable love. I love modelling for historical themes – the emotion, costumes and history of it all. I made sure to think wistful, yearning, formal, damsel-ian, lace-filled thoughts as I pondered upon my fine gentleman lover who may or may not have had a trusty steed.

Below are some shots from the day (some of which involved Patrick standing on his roof while I appeared unattainably through the window…and me standing unattainably on a ladder amongst the blossom of a beautiful cherry tree), followed by four draft mock-ups of potential CD covers which Patrick has very kindly allowed me to show already.