A backwards glance

As regular visitors to the blog ('Speculars'? Carry on...) will know, I tend to post occasional updates on my photography amid the gig and opera write-ups - mainly because it's as important a part of me as all the music and, I suppose, it's an area where instead of my usual role - appreciator - I'm creator and collaborator.

It's all strictly amateur - I've no studio, for example, or significantly powerful editing kit - but then searching out locations and themes 'at large' for me, is a a huge part of the fun. And because my favourite field is portraiture, I'm lucky to have a growing band of friends who've now become part of my photographic 'family', all coming up with ideas and input so that the actuality of who 'directs' or steers part or all of each shoot often becomes happily blurred.

For this session, Suzanne decided to go 'vintage', with hair, make-up and outfits harking back to, say, Hollywood, film noir or perhaps somewhere in between. As we went along, she realised she liked a large number of the colour photographs and wanted them kept that way - when, perhaps, before we got going, we might have expected to produce a full series in monochrome. I got the opportunity to experiment with soft focus 'on the go', as well as trying to control the composition to banish anything too modern... and Suzanne absolutely nailed the look - thanks as ever, S, for all your efforts! I hope you enjoy the pictures.

(The above is one of those happy accidents of location-spotting. I missed this staircase the first time I passed it. Outside the shot, you could see we were on a spiral of concrete... and instead of the haunting lantern I would've craved, the light top right came from an ultra-modern box-shaped lamp.)

(Extra points to the model in the above shot for successfully conveying, in her words, 'mild peril'...!)

(The above shot is an homage to an old photograph I have of one of my favourite actresses Deborah Kerr - so there is a genuine precedent for the 'star emerging from foliage' genre.)