The beauty of old portraits

I love old photos: the sepia tones; the curling corners; the rare occasion of having their photo taken etched in every face; the way each one marks a key milestone. And I love the poses and outfits. Marlene Dietrich, Lauren Bacall, those classic Hollywood portraits from the 30s, 40s and 50s, so full of glamour and beauty.

Here are the glamorous ladies and handsome men from my family history and a more austere look from around 1890.

My first portrait

It was around 1983 and the Tall Ships Race stopped off in Newcastle. I had one of those dreadful disc cameras (a brief aberration in the world of cameras) but I was still pretty proud to get such a lovely photo of the Queen, relaxed and smiling.

Fashion fix

The world of photography is enormous but there are loads of great opportunities out there to keep learning. I love taking a few days out every year to study with some of the great names from the industry and delve into their knowledge banks. And so it was I found myself learning about studio fashion photography with Jon Gray, whose career has spanned fashion, advertising & glamour. And luckily for us he brought along Katie Green who has modelled for both Wonderbra and Ultimo. Here are a few of my favourite images of Katie.

http://www.jongrayphotographer.moonfruit.com

Chocolate heaven

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Natacha Charlez, a Belgian lady with a natural gift for making delicious things from chocolate. She has her own company Chez Moi Chez Vous www.chezmoichezvous.co.uk

and is also a guest chef at Jean Christophe Novelli's Cookery School. It was a pleasure to watch her bake and decorate her beautiful creations. And thank you again for the incredible goody bag I took home....

Double the fun

It's always a great privilege to be invited to photograph newborn babies, so imagine my delight at being asked to photograph adorable, identical twin boys. Still just over 6lbs when these photos were taken in December, they were by far the smallest babies I'd ever seen or held. But perfect in every way.

Definitely identical!




Cute name hats by www.carrymehome.co.uk