Firstly: a big thank you to all the replies I’ve had to my recent (and extremely rare) email, which I sent out to those on my mailing list, announcing that I’m freshly available for some golden-hour nature shoots over the next few months. I now have a huge pile of replies to send and will work through them as quickly as I can!
In the meantime, some images to share… Anyone who’s been following my work for a while knows that I have a small (and actually unending) addiction to these yearly exuberances of blue…
What a joy it was to finally work with Paul Veron of ‘Amazilia Photography’ recently, after two attempts at me visiting him during 2020-1 (but having to cancel flights due to covidia, AKA the world going mad). I’m so glad he decided in the end to simply visit me, to shoot in what I so often lovingly refer to as ‘my local woodland’. I call it this not because I am trying to imply any ownership of the land(!), but because it is so deeply familiar to me, having lived here for so long and modelled among its various trees, growth and flowers through all seasons, for years!
After some fairly violent storms over the winter, there were lots of fallen trees – quite dramatically so – hence the title of this blog post.
I find that photographers in general enjoy these woodland shoots so much – it’s a wonderland for the creative, and a deeply peaceful way to spend a morning or afternoon. People have visited me here from hardened, hectic cities (and are astounded by the calmness of the trees and open air), from other rural parts of England (sometimes casually identifying different bird calls, far better than I can!), and even from other countries and continents (it blows me away that people have so often done this, often incorporating a shoot with me into their itineraries after long periods of being in touch about the possibility of a shoot).
Paul is working on a ‘Location Nudes in Nature’ project and some of his previous books can be found via his website here. He was a pleasure to work with and perhaps I’ll even make it over to his own island, sometime, as originally planned (again not implying ownership; as far as I’m aware he doesn’t actually own an island).
Here are some of my favourites, which he’s kindly allowed me to share… Click on the first, to enlarge, then navigate through.
I had a spontaneous shoot outside recently with beginner photographer ‘BG’. I felt inspired by the wintry-brown ferns, some colourful brambles and the joy of the fresh (bracing) air. These photos were actually taken on my mobile phone, and I lightly processed them (by which i mean added some colour toning, occasional cropping and slight vignettes) myself. They’re dark, moody and… well, brambly.
Here are some of my favourites, though there were so many – sometimes everything just falls together.
I loved shooting with photographer ‘SEETHEEYES’ in Studio88 recently. It was a fun and fruitful session, and we both really enjoyed ourselves.
Not that you’d know it, but for some of these portraits I was precariously balanced on a swing.
Here are some of the results…
I was quite pleased with my make shift outfit (in this ‘pink wall’ set), comprised only of two pieces of fabric, carefully positioned + some accessories. 🙂
You might not want to mess with me after seeing my ‘Judith’ side… (It’s been put into commission a couple of times recently!) Yes, even someone as serene & pacifist as me can quite enjoy wielding a sword, now and then…
Thought I’d share a few photos from a shoot in June with Ross of Posbrook Pics. I really enjoyed working with him, and how he took his time to get the results he was after. He came with a theme in mind (Judith of biblical fame; as wiki tells us: ‘She uses her charm to become an intimate friend of Holofernes, but finally beheads him allowing Israel to counter-attack the Assyrians’) and then we did a bit of extra experimentation at the end for some classical nudes.
Today (because I like to keep you guessing): some images by the wonderful Paul Jefferey (I think this was our fifth shoot together) taken in a working woodworker’s workshop… Despite all the ‘work’ in that last sentence, we had lots of fun making use of various things we found in there and I think Paul wished he’d booked more time as we had plenty we still wanted to try.
So cool to mess around in different settings and locations. I love it when people put a very classical figure (moi) against something rather unexpected!
I was lucky enough to have had two shoots last year with photographer Owen Lloyd – first in August at Atlas Studios, as part of an event organised by Nicole Rayner which brought us together along with Ivory Flame for a ‘trio’ day at the brilliant (but very filthy) industrial indoor location. Owen was one of the photographers attending the day and got some amazing images, then in December he booked me at Sandon Studio in Staffordshire, where we made the most of a few of its atmospheric sets (and I half-froze to death due to the heating not being on there, despite Owen doing a great job of hauling mini heaters around with us from room to room!). I’m convinced our third shoot might be both warm and clean (though I’d better not jinx it..!). 🙂
Owen is a total pleasure to model for as he really takes his time with his lighting and is very experimental and creative. I find photographers often apologise incessantly to me when they feel they’re taking too long setting up lights, as though I they might think I’d feel my time is being wasted somehow, but really it’s completely normal to keep tweaking things until you get the results you’re after, and if there was a choice, I’d far rather a photographer faffed for much of the shoot and got some amazing images by the end, than shoot ten thousand images without stopping to check, only realising later that they would have been improved by pausing to assess the results as we went along and making some simple changes to the angle/intensity/effect of the lights.
[Interlude for announcement… (drum roll)… Those of you on my mailing list will know I’m now planning a big tour of the US/Canada for next year. It’ll be a whistle-stop tour of quite a few places, and a huge job to organise, hence me taking bookings already, 10 months in advance. Send me an email (ellarosemuse@live.co.uk or via the contact form here on the website) if you’d like more info!]
With enormous thanks to Owen, whose use of colour I adore:
Ella Rose - Photo actress, Muse & Dancer 