Happy Halloween! ...& Some Ideas!

Above: Dressed as a gothic/tribal bellydancer for last night's halloween party! Such a good night. My camera was stupidly low on battery, so hopefully my friends will have lots of good shots of all our crazy costumes (there were some very special ones..!).

...Anyway, fancy dress/the traversing of character ties in well with today's theme. One of the best things about artistic modelling is the chance to perform and play a different character. Many people who book me have specific visions of what character or role they want me to play (whether it be a mood, style or atmosphere I need to portray or a particular person in a story) in order to capture the image they have in their mind, yet many don't have such clear ideas and ask me for my own input; sometimes I'm even asked to steer the shoot completely. Well, with this in mind, and now that it's time to fill up my final November and December dates(!), I thought I'd write a list of the types of shoots I would do, if everything were completely up to me! Maybe it will inspire some people to try new things with me. (Please note: I hope that doesn't read as though I'm dissatisfied with what I already do; I'm not at all, I love my job! ...It's just fun to do new things.) I have a shimmering pocket notebook with a woman on the front who has birds flying out of her head... It's my book of lists (I'm a dedicated list keeper) full of things I want to do across all areas of my life and I think it's quite possibly a lucky notebook, as a lot of the dreams, plans and hopes in there do seem to come true. One of the lists (modelling ideas I'd like to try) goes something like this (in no particular order):

Landscape nudes
I'm a big fan of mother nature, aren't you? She seems to know what she's doing. I want to get out there and entwine myself amongst trees, wade in lakes and balance amongst precarious rocks. (OK, I've done a lot of this before, but I want more, and more evidence!) This category is, to me, one of the most traditional areas of artistic nude photography, and the umbrella term to describe many of the figure modelling images which originally inspired me to do what I do. There is so much scope for stunning compositions outside, pitching the vulnerability of the human figure against the magnitude of natural structures which will continue to exist before and after they are seen by us. It's also a supremely relaxing way to spend your time. :-) I'm constantly in talks with a particular photographer who I think is wonderful at this kind of thing, and surrounded by incredible scenery, but it's a matter of timing... I know I'll get there in the end!

Abstract
Studio stuff. On the floor, against the walls, twisted, bent, upside-down, stretched, hunched... curves, lines, bones, flesh. God knows why I don't do more of this. Time to make the most of my flexibility and create some stunning shapes!

Different Hair
My hair's quite distinctive. It'd be fun to straighten it a little more often - when I do, I look incredibly different; my face actually looks different. I'd like to model a slightly 'tougher' character, inspired by street dance; more urban and 'cool'. I spent most of my time at sixth form and during my first degree styled like this, so it's actually a part of my character. Funny how you go through phases...

Pocahontas
...Because she's one of my heroes. She is also my default fancy dress inspiration when I'm short on time before a party! My personal style is quite bohemian, I'm told, and I love the gypsy, eclectic, layered look. I'm thinking feathers, plaits in my hair, headdress, pendants.. funky, carefree, stuff. Maybe even war paint.

'Art' pieces
 I am always told that I have a look that would suit the pre-Raphaelite era, and yet I've never worked on a shoot explicitly to create a piece in this style. I've done shoots which have hinted at it, in the past, but I think a lot of it would be to do with the post-processing of the image, and the composition/context would be important as well as the styling. I'd also love to re-create something amazing; an homage.

Dance 'showreel'
Slightly different, in being video, but this is something I increasingly want to do. I'm a member of an Oxford bellydance performance troupe (I'll hopefully be performing at lots of Oxford uni balls over the next few months) so will try to get some 'home videos' of these events, but ultimately I'd like to perform solo in a studio and capture it well. A lot of people don't have a clear idea of what bellydance is, and ask things like 'but don't you have to be quite fat?' which I find quite bizarre and a bit offensive. Everything about the dance captures my imagination; I find it hypnotic, and incredibly sexy - the music, the drums, the costuming, the rhythms, the feminity, the historical context and earthiness of the movements, the technicality of the body isolations and the importance of body control and awareness. It's a very expressive dance. I bloody love it! Just so you get an idea of what I'm on about, and for your viewing pleasure, here are some vids I personally like on youtube to show a range of the possibilities. I've done quite a few bellydance images which I'm proud of, but really I don't think stills can ever fully do it justice. I think stage lighting which is also intimate would work best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBYaDP_T84Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pA5CTHQPys&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YamDoDK71Ds

80s fashion!
I think I have good hair for it. Neon brights, gelled lights and a lot of nonchalance.

...and finally (for now), Duo Work
I absolutely love duo shots where two female figures create interesting shapes and moods and although I've been lucky to work with some excellent models already (all of which I hope I'll work with again lots!), I'd really like to find someone who really, really suits me and wants to create some jaw-droppingly good artistic images. I'm mainly talking figure work, but would be open to multiple genres, ultimately. This is mainly for my personal satisfaction, simply as I love these kinds of images - I'd love to find someone who feels similarly!

...This is just a small selection of my thoughts at the moment. I haven't included some of the different styles I've done quite recently and I'm sure as soon as I finish this blog post I'll think of a million more things! :-)

Gregory Brown 'Instrumental Nudes'

Just a little note to say that some of my modelling can now be seen in Gregory Brown's fine-art coffee table book, 'Instrumental Nudes'. Nice to be amongst so many other models I admire. Click here for a preview!

Perspectives

Well, Dubai was fun! Ridiculously hot and humid, a breeze was like an oasis in the desert. I stayed on the 44th floor in my friend's apartment (ears popped each day on the way up and down! I hate lifts but am proud to say I remained calm at all times; even I didn't fancy all those stairs...), managed to avoid tan lines (I'm not entirely sure how I did that; probably a mixture of paranoia and factor 40!), got a henna tattoo (slight infactuation with tattoos on feet - and yes, it's pretty much faded now), went on a desert safari where we surfed around dunes by car at top speed (felt like a rollercoaster - totally unsafe - amazing!), saw a belly dancer (and indulged myself in some new costumes), went to a 12-hour beach party at Nasimi beach and saw Armen van Helden, Chicane, Zero 7 (MUST persuade them to let me join the group as a guest star one day...) and others, swam in a pool surrounded by sky-scrapers (I woke up on my lounger and briefly thought the sky was falling down on me; scary perspectives out there!), saw all the various superlatives (7 star hotel, tallest building in the world, biggest gold ring in the world - that's a lot of bling!), floated in the beautiful warm sea and was shown around the textile, spice and gold souks by a guy who bought a jet ski but forgot to use it more than twice.... What a fascinating place Dubai is and full of interesting, ambitious people. Omnipresent, palpable sense of possibility. Really pleased I packed quite a lot into one week. Lots of inspiration for one of the characters in the book I'm starting to write and some other things I have in the pipeline at the back of my mind. Other interesting facts about Dubai: 51% of every single business over there is owned by a sheik, no one is allowed to be unemployed (i.e. they kick you out if you are, hence the many abandoned vehicles lying covered in layers of sand-dust!), you go to jail if you write a cheque and it bounces, and there is NO income tax.

(Sorry about all the brackets... It's lazy of me but I like the fast pace.)

Anyway, I worked recently with Tim Pile, who has a bit of a thing for interesting perspectives and angles in his photography. I was very pleased to be shooting with him (and two other photographers he often works with, Mary and Dinah) as he's produced some fantastic work so far, describing himself as an 'improving amateur' and shooting for a camera club and national/international competitions. The location was very unique and characterful - the Victoria Baths in Manchester, so we had about a million sets to play with.

Here are some of my favourites from the day. Tim likes to experiment with treatments to bring out the best in the shots, so I'm posting a variety. I call this first set my 'floating down the shaft/falling down the rabbit-hole) look:

I also have these from Dinah:

The lighting conditions in the first shot were very challenging, but I think it came out really well and makes an interesting, quirky image. It was a tiny room full of a very eerie, green light. I'm sitting in a rocking chair, like a strange Miss Havisham; just me and the shadows...

The previous day, Tim came along for part of my shoot with Rebecca Parker (see previous blog entry) and got his own take on the fields of heather, again working with his interest in unusual perspectives:

Finally, here's a quick shot by Avs Kumar from a shoot I did while in Dubai. This is one of my new costumes:

That will do for now, me thinks!

Update!

1. I'm going to Dubai on Tues morning for a week to visit a friend, see some camels/bellydancers and do some modelling; please excuse me if I take a while to reply to enquiries during this time, and feel free to mark your message as urgent if you need a particularly swift response. As for the rest of the year, I've taken bookings up until the end of October, but I'm still working out my plans for November onwards, so again, please bear with me!

2. On Sunday 24th October, I'll be modelling alongside the talented and beautiful Ivory Flame and SammieB at the brilliant Cape of Good Hope, a Victorian pub in Oxford. I throroughly enjoyed the last event and look forward to modelling there again. Hourly slots are available, and you can choose to photograph one model at a time, two of us, or all three, subject to availability. It'll be a fantastic day. Here's the advert - please get in touch with any enquiries and I hope to see some new faces!

The location:

3. Here are some new images from Iain Thomson:

Rebecca Parker

I worked with Rebecca Parker at the end of August. If you haven't seen her creations before, you really should go and look at her website. Her images are exquisite - a wonderful mixture of dreaminess, drama, strangeness and simplicity. Rebecca does all of her photography and digital manipulation/processing herself, and now also does the make up (including mine, below). I think she's secretly a control freak... Only joking. The multi-talent definitely runs in the family: Moonmomma made the beautiful pearl and blue-green headdresses I'm wearing below and they combine efforts often on various things. What a crafty team!

I'm so glad we were able to do these while I was in Birmingham on the way to a shoot in Manchester. Rebecca was exactly how I hoped she would be, after emailing each other for quite a long time, and I think we have such similar tastes that I totally trust her creative vision. The location was 'Gentleshaw', and we rocked some heather for some portraits, some lazy lavender fashion and then some mean gypsy styles indoors. Here is the evidence so far (there will be more images to come):

I also want to show this image I've recently seen. I flippin' love it and keep going back to stare at it. Wow:

 

Rebecca will soon be organising some workshops/classes, to share her knowledge and techniques with other photographers and creative types. Definitely contact her for more info if you're interested, and do feel free to hint heavily that I should be the model she demonstrates on... ;-)

The greatest challenge of all...

... Thinking about what we are doing.

My dream...
...To see a part of the world which is completely unspoilt. The careful, decisive undoing of ruin; a second chance.

'We must believe what we know. We have shaped the earth in our image.We have very little time to change.'

Luckily there are some rumblings of hope. (But not if we pretend it won't take a previously unseen amount of dedication, effort and radical re-thinking of almost everything we do in the western world.)

It's feature-film length and a call for humility in the Earth-human relationship. Do watch this documentary to the end. 'Home', by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.