A portrait of Liis, a woman with clear blue eyes and blonde hair, sitting wearing a blue dress looking straight at camera. A portrait of Tim Andrews, curator of Over the Hill, a study of his journey with Parkinson's Disease. Tim stands by the range in his kitchen with soft sunlight from a garden window. A portrait of Guida, a young woman sitting cross-legged on a double bed, leaning forward and looking into the camera. A portrait of Lucy wearing a pink father boa and a black dress, posing in her living room. A portrait of Tim Andrews, curator of Over the Hill, a study of his journey with Parkinson's Disease. Tim sits at his table with paperwork. This was the the second photograph his photographic series. A portrait of Yasmin, standing in the gardens of Morden Hall in south London wearing a blue headscarf. A close-crop portrait of Yasmin, whose arms are folded and are showing silver bangles over her decorated blue dress. A portrait of author, Rob Pateman, standing at the top floor balcony of a tower block in south London looking at the camera with the city in the background. A portrait of Mel, who is pregnant, standing in an empty residential street with parked cars. A portrait of Debrashree, standing looking at the camera with long black hair with the garden of Syon Park in the background. A portrait of the painter, Jane Andrews, standing in her studio surrounded by canvases, easels and walls marked with paintbrushes. A portrait of Belinda, doubled in a mirror, sitting on her bed in a robe, in front of which is a pair of Manolo Blahnik high heeled shoes. A portrait of Chris, standing in her bedroom, looking straight at camera with her reflection in a mirrored wardrobe. A portrait of Georgie, sitting on her bed which is covered in a rich, pink silk cover. A portrait of Chris, standing by a canal in Camden wearing a business coat and leather gloves. A portrait of Tatjana, sitting, knee-up on a wide leather sofa in her living room. A portrait of Angel who is laying down on a small blue sofa in a colourful living room, reading the kama sutra with shoes and a small metal goblet in front on the floor. A portrait of Mel, three quarter length in a red coat looking straight at the camera with a London street behind her. A portrait of Lucille, hands in the pockets of her jacket, standing at the bottom of the steps of her office in east London. A portrait of Lisa, wearing a light black knitted scarf, looking directly at the camera with the Thames Path at Chiswick behind her. A head-and-shoulder portrait of Yasmin, looking off camera wearing a blue headscarf. A portrait of Vicki, standing in the courtyard of a residential block in Clerkenwell, wearing dark sunglasses and a blue top. A portrait of Simon, sitting beyond a glass table in his living room with sunlight entering the room from an open balcony door. An outdoor portrait of Kirsty to the left of the frame wearing black and looking directly at the camera. A portrait of Gordon, reclining in a chair in a large room which has a messy desk and a number of old vinyl records strewn over the floor. A portrait of Debrashree, face in profile, with long dark hair, wearing an ornately patterned jacket with lawns, gardens and a grey sky in the background. A portrait of Laura wearing a camel jacket and jeans stood in a crescent shaped road in Camden. A portrait of Liis standing by the soft light of a window wearing a blue dress with her hands behind her. A portrait of Guida standing with crossed-arms in her small living room, a messy table, the arms of a sofa and an ironing board in the frame. A portrait of Kirsty, wearing a long black coat with her arms across her body in front of a square in Shoreditch and a striped, red-brick building in the background. A portrait of Rebecca, looking at camera, standing unclothed in her living room with a Some Like It Hot poster on the wall beside her. A close portrait of Vicki, sowing her face and cropped fringe in three-quarter view. A portrait of Kitty wearing a pink dress and sitting on the edge of a workbench in her studio. A portrait of Tanya sitting cross-legged at her dining room table holding a mug of tea. A portrait of Edmund, seated in an armchair in the window of his Victorian house in south London. A portrait of Nadia, wearing a vibrant purple dress leaning against the wall in a brightly lit living room. A portrait of Ana, wearing a blue shirt and jeans, standing beside a large window and a mirror. A portrait of Joanna sitting in her young son's brightly coloured bedroom with posters and a novelty clock on the wall. Portrait of Liatt, face-on, sitting on a striped sofa looking straight at the camera with his arms open to either side.

Portrait

These portraits were taken over a three year period starting in 2007. All were the response to various advertisements for sitters. They actually comprise of two projects, one interior and the other more varied (mainly outdoor, but some interior poses too). I've muddled them all up for now. Perhaps I'll re-settle them into their 'correct' projects one day, but for now I like all of them enough to be enjoyed in their own right.

All the portraits here were taken using a 4x5" large format field camera. That's the type of camera where shot is composed under a dark cloth. It's a slow, exacting process that allows for much consideration of composition. As such all the images are full-frame scans from the negatives, all cropping having occurred already in-camera. The shot film was Kodak Portra 400. I'd take between ten and sixteen sheets per sitter, and the results were developed and scanned, then corrected digitally.

To a certain degree all the sitters were allowed to direct their own shoot, in terms of location, costume (or none). I would then work with each subject to select poses and positions in the setting. A 4x5" field camera is a chunky piece of kit, and it was a squeeze in some homes. But the cumbersome process was thoroughly enjoyable.

I am looking now to combine my formal portrait practice with work on the street, unencumbered with film-holders and loupes.


→ Macroportrait
→ Shoppers

→ Street photography Folio 1
→ Street photography Folio 2