A Girl in a Red Gown

 From my set of production photographs of Shiver, the newest production to open at The Yard (where I'm resident performance photographer).

Self portrait: Beautifying

 

A little series inspired in part by a talk at the National Portrait Gallery a couple of weeks ago on the use of self-portraiture by contemporary women photographers (given by Camilla Brown, who is a wonderful speaker, as part of the museum's brilliant free lunchtime talks). Additional sparks came from a few nights out lately where the slap and hair has been at more intense levels than I would usually bother with.

I've been trying lately not to be so rigid about projects and plans. I have a tendency to procrastinate wildly and use the excuse that something's not perfect or final in order to put off actually acting on any of my ideas. So this and several previous posts can be seen as sketches in order to try and loosen me out of this habit.

Test shot for 'Ten Things'

Testing out the lighting for a small project that I hope to share with you in the next couple of weeks.

Adam and Eve in the 21st century: work in progress

 Captions L-R 'What are WE doing here?' - 'UGH!' - 'No signal...'

Caption: 'We will stride forth like colossi to conquer this new world'

 

Captions L-R: 'Although it is charming here...' - 'Perhaps we should accept our lot?' - 'We'll live and love in harmony'.

I don't usually like to show people my work until it's 'done' - or at least, as 'done' as possible. Which usually means 'done' until I look at it again six months down the line and hate it and begin all over again. But I have been faffing with this mini-project for over a month and it's time to get it out there. 

I am trying something new with this - I wanted to get the feel of a comic book or photo-story. You probably can't read the little captions at the bottom of each frame so I'll write them up underneath.

It would be great to get any comments on what you think of these - does it work for you? What about the layout? (I had envisaged these as three separate prints, hanging one above the other with the squared-off set in the middle and the portrait-landscape-portrait at the top, as above). I hope you like them - having them in the public sphere will certainly make it easier for me to see them with a clear eye.

Young Vic goes underground

Saturday was a busy day - as well as my work for The Yard (see post below) I was also shooting for the Young Vic in the afternoon. Here are some of the delightful participants from a community choir in Brixton, performing in the Leake Street Tunnel. 

The Yard 1

The Yard is a very exciting pop-up theatre in Hackney Wick. Created from recycled materials from the nearby Olympic Park and surrounding area, the auditorium nestles inside an empty warehouse like...a....pearl? inside an oyster? My powers of simile have deserted me. Anyway, I'll be there, photographing merrily away, throughout the theatre's life. They also have a lovely bar and cafe serving an absolutely delicious-sounding menu, so make sure you drop by before it closes on October 31st.

Experiments

I made these as a birthday present for a friend. I like them, and there will be more.