Philippe Decoufle

To cheer me up my friend and fellow photographer Jack (www.jackjeans.co.uk) just showed me this incredible video of Philippe Decoufle on Super-8 film:

I have a my granddad's old super-8 camera and really want to make a summery film using it.

Old Polaroids

Just found these old polaroids

A shoot a long time ago based on the story of the Frog Prince.

She is a princess looking for a frog to kiss.

Pictures from Paris

My impressions of Paris from a recent adventure there with Suzie.

Tattoo Studio

Last night I took these images as part of an ongoing project about tattoo culture. Thanks to Adam at Prick Tattoos and Frank whose skin was this canvas.

Currently waiting to scan medium format negatives I took as well.

A Favorite Portrait

A beauty shot and portrait of my best friend Suzie, I wanted to shoot people in their own rooms, in bed looking like they just woke up, because you only normally get to see people at this time if you care a lot about them and I wanted the people in these portraits to look like loved people because we can all see so much beauty in the people we care most about.

Sarah Moon Eyeless-Inspiration

Since realising that the eyes weren't visible in any of my favorite pictures I took myself, I've been looking out for it in other people's work.

These are images from Sarah Moons book 1,2,3,4,5 where the eyes are removed of not visible in some way. I think it's interesting because it seems quite a violent thing to do to an image. It's a way of removing someone's identity.

My Photographic Style

At school we were asked to choose some photographs we'd taken 
that best summed up our signature style, and then look at them 
objectively and write about them.

It was a totally rewarding process because I found things out 
about my work that I had never noticed before: 

My photographs are all square format images shot on film with quite lo-fi experimental production processes. They feel tactile because you are very aware of the film grain and the processes going on like over exposure or double exposure. There are lots of accidental features in them that I didn’t plan on but I really enjoy. The subdued colours emphasise that you are not looking at what is actually there; I have revealed something with the camera that didn’t actually look like that in real life. They are all shot on location and they all feature the same solitary model.

The model is always on her own standing still, yet movement is implied by camera shake, or double exposure. She seems very isolated in the image and a large distance between the model and viewer is implied. She is alienated in her own realm where the viewer can see her but can’t interact with her. She doesn’t engage at all with the camera and I noticed that her eyes are not visible in any of the photographs. She is like Alice in Wonderland with all these strange things happening around her. They are like a fairytale, but not on purpose.

All the images imply a larger context and narrative scenario that the model is part of. The set ups are theatrical: masks, weird lights and a steep sloping hillside as a backdrop all hint at a theatre set and the viewer is aware that things are not what they seem. They are not sexy or sassy but quirky or uncanny? I think they might be a mirror of myself and how I feel. I have always had a big affinity with Alice.

Half Frames

Got my first film back from my half-frame camera:

The photos look lovely, there are two images on each print so they somehow create a narrative on their own, or sometimes show the same thing from two perspectives simultaneously.

I want to try and use this for fashion photography but I'm not sure how...

Giacomo Brunelli

Also at the Photographers Gallery was an exhibition of 
photographer Giacomo Brunelli's series called The Animals.

The pictures were beautiful and so inspiring.

Images from www.giacomobrunelli.com

Polaroid!

Today I went to the relaunch of Polaroid film at the
Photographer's Gallery.

There is only black and white 600 film, but apparently colour is 
coming back in the summer time.

I haven't tried it out yet but it looks like this:

Very excited to try it out, I love the instant magic of polaroids, and I'm so happy that the Impossible Project are working to keep it alive.

Tattoo Art

An image from my fashion spreads work for school about tattoos as a legitimate form of feminine expression.

Si Holmes

Photos for a musician friend's CD

www.myspace.com/siholmes

New Model

Rachel is an English Rose.

Witchcraft Museum

Visited the Museum of Witchcraft at Boscastle

(www.museumofwitchcraft.com)

To research up and coming projects involving fashion photography and the occult and saw these lovelies:

Jar of Lizards

Mummified Cats

So many herb jars!

Buttercups from Last Spring

These are some of my favourite sketchbook pages.

Handwritten Dress

Beautiful dress designed by Suzie Laloe(loveinallitsforms.blogspot.com) and modeled by Holly.

Long Distance Double Exposures

These double exposures were created collaboraively with my great friend Holly Caddy using Dianna F+ cameras. She shot a film in Falmouth, rewound it and posted it to me in London where i then shot more photos on top of it. It's good to know we can still work together even though we are far apart.

Wild Things

These are some images i did for school about seeing humans as animals. Humans are considered to be a part of the animal kingdom, but at the same time animals represent ideas of difference and otherness, a more vital and primal state of being.

Models are lovely Sophie Hawkins and also Si Holmes whose beautiful music you can listen to at:

www.myspace.com/siholmes

Styling by Suzie Laloe

I'd quite like to reshoot these in the dark lit with torches.