The past few weeks have been quite busy so hopefully I shall have quite a few things to post up.
One of the most enjoyable shoots was for my dear friend Blue Firth. Blue is an artist who recently had a show at Copenhagen Place in Limehouse.
I rushed to meet Blue to photograph her artworks in between doing another job and found the biggest slab of chocolate cake waiting for me (always a bonus!), so it was great to chill out a bit before we got the camera out.
Although only asked to photograph the artworks for her archive, I couldn’t resist doing a few portraits of her as she was wearing the most amazing outfit which went so perfectly well with her work. All in all a lovely afternoon spent ‘working’ with a lovely lady.
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Back in February I had the honour of meeting and photographing the Baroness Lola Young at the House of Lords for a WI Life profile feature.
I must confess I didn’t know too much about her beforehand, other than the little acquired from a quick google search the day before. Luckily I found that it didn’t matter because we were greeted with a charming, open, interesting lady who was fascinating to listen to. Unfortunately she was so fascinating that the interview overran quite considerably so I only had ten minutes to photograph her but she was great to work with and her charisma came through on film too.
I particularly like the shot with the painting of the old man in the background because I feel it’s a comment on how far society has come; allowing females into the realm of the House of Lords.
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My friend Claudine bought me some flowers last Sunday. I loved them and added them to some roses I already had.
Sometimes when I’m sat around I will stare at these flowers. I truly love them. The colours are a little clashing and they are different varieties of flower,but I think that’s what makes them so compelling to me.
They won’t last much longer and I want to keep them forever so I have photographed them in a way so as to remind me of the awkward beauty.
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Film-maker and writer Nadia Attia helped me out on a recent shoot which is yet to be published. It was in the week when the sun was shining which seems a far cry from this grumpy weather we’re currently enduring. I think you will agree she makes a lovely stand in!

Last night was Londons Digital Switchover and to celebrate, Crystal Palace Transmitter hosted a laser light show. It was a misty old night so at some points visibility wasn’t great, but luckily for me I had prime view from the comfort of my living room.

A couple of weeks ago I had a very exciting shoot photographing the wonderful Neil Hannon at the Royal Opera House for this weeks Time Out.
Neil is part of this years Opera Shots which begins in a couple of weeks.
I must admit to approaching the shoot with a major bout of hero-worship as my brother and I used to listen to The Divine Comedy loads as we were growing up in the 90′s.
I also had a mixtape made for me by a former boyfriend at school which included ‘The Summerhouse‘, an anecdote which I rather embarrassingly decided to mention during the shoot. The implication of course being that the song outlived the relationship!
So I was a little nervous when I saw him strolling towards me but there was no need as I found him to be an utterly lovely man.
Not only was he was humorous and charismatic when I decided to finish the shoot downstairs in the Piazza, he didn’t hesitate to pick up my case and help me downstairs with it. I must also note that the classical editor from Time Out Jonathan and Laura from the Opera House were equally helpful at this point.
So the shoot ended with my hero-worship even more in tact!
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So I’m posting this up but I don’t really want you to hear it because I am aware my voice is wavering and they aren’t even difficult questions.
I perform better behind the camera.
However, I think it’s good for the soul in some way and if nothing else, it’s a lesson to all about being more succint.
Fortunately I’m pretty much the last person to speak on it so hopefully by that point one will have lost interest or become distracted and will only half listen.
Either way, it is a little explanation (literally in my own babbled words) on the idea behind my Focus on imaging Best in Show project 2012

Photography Monthly Podcast April 2012

One of the most enjoyable things about working for the Transmitter magazine is meeting interesting people who live and work in my local community.
I love the prospect of passing strangers gradually becoming people with whom you can share a wave and a hello, and one particular person I look forward to seeing around the triangle again is Phil Earle.
We met after he had trekked back from a long day working in Birmingham and I’m pretty sure having his picture taken was the last thing he wanted to do, however he greeted me with a beaming smile and we instantly hit it off.
I found Phil to be a really lovely guy and although I am probably a bit old to be his target audience (only marginally of course…!), by all accounts he is also a tremendously talented teen fiction writer.
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Lloyd Shepherd is a local author I have recently photographed for the latest issue of the Transmitter.
Because I live in a top floor flat, I am unable to keep pets so I absolutely love it when I turn up at a house and there is a bundle of fur wrapped energy to greet me. I couldn’t resist getting a bit of animal action in the shoot and Lloyd very patiently humoured me trying to get his dog to comply with what I wanted for the shot.
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One of my portraits of the animator and director Chris Shepherd has been used for an interview about him on Central Station.
You can read the full interview here