Portrait in a Bottle
Category: Portrait
Reflection Reflection
Last week I watched a film created for Lucian Freud’s Self Portrait show at the Royal Academy a few years ago and was inspired to shoot a few self-portraits, just for the hell of it, still using the 60mm macro lens.
Ghost
Continuing to shoot with the 60mm macro as a walking around lens, just for kicks, and to see what I get. I noticed my ghostly reflection in a fogged up mirror and took this snap.
At Home
Station Road Bridge Portrait
Out to Lewes to see a film (Caravaggio) and the bridge leading back to the train station seemed like a good spot for a portrait.
Lee Sculpted
Marvel Universe?
I get to marvel at her every day!
(sculpture by Charles Hadcock.)
To Be Frank
Cool Papa Club
As soon as I was done taking a portrait of men delivering a display case or machine to the Fairway on Broadway, this gentleman called out to me from his car and started talking to me a mile a minute about the excellence of his baklava. He talked non-stop, showing me pictures on his phone of people who weren’t even Greek, who just loved the baklava. Eventually a colleague came out of the Fairway and got in the back seat while he continue his breathless, unbroken litany of the global lovers of baklava. His driver waited with growing impatience until a breath was drawn and I said, “it looks like you’re ready to go,” thanked him for talking with me and, showing great relief, the driver pulled away.
Helado
Another candidate image for On Broadway, these women were selling what we used to call Spanish ices from a sun-shaded cart on the corner.
Back in Brighton (well, Hove actually) since Friday, but still have some more NY pictures to work through before we get back to UK photos.
Chillin’
Shooting for my series, On Broadway, I met these gentlemen. I later pulled back to add a third friend to the picture, which will probably make it into the final version.
Florist
I returned to my series on people working On Broadway while I was in New York. For this shot I wanted to capture the apple display outside, but the light and reflections weren’t working for me. Eventually I went inside for a portrait which will appear in On Broadway in due course.
Ethan Hill
I saw a great presentation by Ethan Hill, of ICP, at Soho Photo‘s new space last month. Nominally about lighting, it was really a tour of his editorial work ranging from Harper’s Bazaar to Newsweek and others, covering both the context to the images, and some of the creative thinking behind the compositions. He finished with some of his more recent artistic ventures. Soho Photo will probably put up video from the talk at some point in the future. The photographs behind him are by Chris Maliwat of Subwaygram fame, who introduced him.
i360 Reflections
The i360 is a tourist attraction offering views of Brighton, with a mirrored cafeteria at its base – I couldn’t resist taking a double selfie in its window even as I’ve resisted taking a ride in it for the 3 months we’ve been here. See the West Pier reflected in the background again.
Rebel, Rebel
Squashed
One exhibit at the museum featured a funhouse mirror. I’m not sure why, but as so often in galleries and museums, I felt compelled to take a reflective self-portrait.
Portrait
Seeing him sitting on a bench so dramatically attired, I had to ask to take a portrait. He leapt up and took this thumbs-up stance, nodding his approval when I showed him the image on the back of my camera.
Selfie
It seems I always find the museum’s mirror.
Untitled
A striking image we saw at the museum that I failed to make a note of. The best I can reconstruct from the museum’s web site is that it might have been part of this exhibit. I have long considered using my calligraphy skills on photographs but some early experiments proved disappointing. It’s still on my list of future projects, however.
Seaside Reflections
About 2½ weeks ago we returned to the UK, this time to Brighton. As democracy and civil rights in the US come more and more frighteningly under threat; and the current administration move us determinedly into a post-bellum isolationism, failing to understand the reasons for which the post-war institutional structures were built, or the impoverishment earlier civilisations endured when they turned inward, we thought it best to consider alternatives. Here we are, reflected in a shiny mirrored surface on the beach promenade on our first afternoon.