Portraits

The Sunflower

ERWhittington 2 Comments

Congratulations to Steven Billups who had the following two images juried into the Natural Nude exhibition at the SE Center for photography, Greenville South Carolina (one of the jurors being Kim Weston). The first is of me, hiding behind a sunflower (as one does) and the second, Dune Shadows, is of the wonderful Anoush Anou, a friend I haven’t seen in far too long (we once hiked the Grand Canyon together!) – hope to visit both of these people in the US when I visit next year! Anyone wanting info on that will hear from me once dates are planned if they’re signed up to my mailing list.

I can’t believe it’s been so many years since I was last in the US. I’ve been to Australia a lot in recent years and that’s taken over my far-flung travels a bit. Anyway, I’ve been home here in the UK for just over a week now – had such a creative time and shall be updating this blog with lots of results. I literally created a spreadsheet a couple of days ago listing all the shoots I am planning to blog; friends, there are 71 columns of photographer’s names. So, um, stay tuned..!

Sunflower Steven Billups 10x10 $250_edited-1 (1) Continue reading →

The Albion Beatnik Bookstore

ERWhittington 1 Comment

The Albion Beatnik Bookstore in Oxford, recently closed, was one of a kind. A totally unique haven for book and music lovers, with a hefty collection of loose leaf tea. You can imagine: I spent quite a bit of time there. I was granted access to using this characterful place as a photographic location last year for a couple of shoots, and briefly advertised this (it pays to be on my mailing list, take note..!) the following were taken by Paul Jeffery, who grappled bravely with minimal light options and cramped dimensions in such a brilliantly chaotic place. Throw a piano into the situation, plus a touch of costuming towards the end (a good art model always packs her finger cymbals for a shoot!), and this is what you get:

03000001_A_2B_low res03000004_A_2B_low res03000007_A_1X_low resL1047398A Continue reading →

Infra Ghost

ERWhittington 1 Comment

Phew, this post marks the end of a multiple-hour email blitz – I am getting on top of some new plans and now have modelling trips lined up for Venice, Holland, Germany, Barcelona, and potentially a few more… After my little break from modelling around the EU quite so extensively, stretching my ‘admin muscle’ is quite a workout. 🙂 Just in case you haven’t seen this yet, this sign-up form is my new system for contacting people when visiting different parts of the country/world. Do it now before you forget! 🙂

I had a lovely shoot in Far North Queensland recently (as part of Zoefest) with Aspiring Imagery. I’ve worked with Brian a few times before, and this time he was working on a project which required me to pose as little as possible, just existing in the moment. I suppose I went a step further and (as with many of my recent shoots) wore almost no make up. It was fun – nice to have the space and go into a bit of a relaxed state/zone. For me, the ‘stand out’ shots are the infra red images and in the second here, I really look like some kind of weird, ethereal, ghostly alien, which is always pleasing…

Thank you, Brian! 🙂

b8c7af75-800c-4f40-8d69-9fa51b757002 Continue reading →

Two’s Company

ERWhittington 1 Comment

It was a total pleasure to work twice in quick succession with James a while ago – during the first shoot we had at a beautiful location near my house (15th century ruins, a river… and the mist was rolling in during the early morning so atmospherically!), I mentioned that a model friend of mine, Jessamyne will be staying with me for a while the next week as she was visiting from LA. He snapped up the opportunity to photograph us both together (we hadn’t officially advertised it) and went for dreamy, pre-Raphaelite-esque styles, towards which Jessamyne & I naturally gravitate in taste/style anyway. It was lovely! For that second shoot, the three of us went to my local ancient woodland and basically played around in the trees with flowers in our hair… bliss! During her stay, we did lots of sightseeing around my hometown, Oxford, and I saw it in a fresh new light (I already was in love with it, but now I’m even more so) – we did the open top bus among other things, which I really recommend. Honestly, you can’t walk a single centimetre here without incredible history, literary figures, politicians, world events, science and arts and all sorts of eminent leaders jostling along with you.

(The rest of the time we basically did face masks, watched period dramas and ate vegan chocolate with figs… :-))

I’m looking forward to seeing Jessamyne again later this year in wonderful Australia! It’s going to be amazing!

With thanks to James for letting me share these photos. 🙂

er_85136-smaller_85196-small Continue reading →

I never practise; I only play.

ERWhittington 3 Comments

… Has always been a favourite line of mine, apparently uttered by someone really jaunty and clever, and on my bedroom wall for a while (possibly still there), though when I google it I can’t find any credit, so who knows? Anyway, I like it, and it always bring to mind my favourite musical beast, the piano. (Various vids of me messing around with Debussy etc. over on my facebook profile).

So when I was asked by the lovely model Nicole Rayner if I would go and model for her (because she’s also a lovely photographer as well as a lovely model) at Pipewell Hall, I couldn’t resist. I’d shot there a couple of times with the Yerburys and remembered how beautiful it was as a shoot location (I like to pretend I’m mansion-shopping when passing through). Anyway, I’d had a play on the very old grand piano they’ve got there as soon as I arrived, while I was waiting for Nicole & Richard Egan to be ready to photograph me/us, and played the music that was on the stand, Moonlight Sonata, while people bustled in and out. I dream of having a grand piano. No offence to my own upright, which I inherited from my great aunt, but they are just so utterly beautiful.

Pianos are also quite good for leaning across, I suppose. It was slightly naughty of us, I think, but I have so much respect for pianos, even when nude, that I hope they would be able to trust that I treated it very well. With many thanks to Nicole who basically did these as a favour to me at the very end of our shoot, at my insistence, as I fell in love (she had to balance very precariously in order to get far away enough to take these, due to the position of it, so extra points to her for not falling on top of me):

14543619_161161914335549_302664850_n14536963_164869140631493_414857382_o14518659_161161911002216_1602104290_n

We also did this in the garden shed (AKA stables?)…

14522105_164869980631409_547108174_o14536568_164870037298070_516231790_o14550644_164870240631383_195484926_o

Thanks Nicole!

And if anyone is wondering what else I’ve been up to recently, take a look at this: www.leafology.co.uk!

ERWhittington Leave a comment

26200-245260671.jpg
(Image by Steve Doman)

This feels a bit naughty somehow, but I’m just going to copy and paste a travel notice I’ve just published on a portfolio site. It’s all a bit exciting really – I haven’t posted any local availability for ages. Hope to hear from anyone interested! You can contact me directly via ellarosemuse@live.co.uk if any of the below info piques your interest… Continue reading →