I’ve just opened the post from the Master Photography Awards and found that I received six merits from entries to this year’s competition. The merits are based on impact, composition, colour and workmanship and were entered in the portrait and wedding sections.
Rachel and Marc are a couple I’ve known for years through modern jive dancing and now continuing through tango. They live a few hours outside London, but usually visit London for a monthly tango get-together and travel throughout the country teaching blues-style modern jive, DJing and dancing.
On one of their last trips to London, we did some studio portraits. This is how elegant they can look, in ‘dance mode’.
And this is how I usually see them – having a laugh together – when they aren’t being mobbed by other dancers wanting to take them onto the floor.
As some of my clients and friends already know, I’ve had a shoulder injury for the past six weeks or more. While it’s been fine to shoot with since I’m right-handed and it’s my left shoulder that is injured, using the computer has been problematic at an especially busy time of year. I’ve not been able to spend the time I usually would – hence extending lead time with some clients and a reason for not having caught up on here.
Happily, I had an osteopath’s appointment this week which has made an improvement on my shoulder’s movement, and added to further appointments in the coming weeks and two types of prescription painkillers, should mean that things will return to close to normal in the coming month.
River Tango festival has just been in London, with lots of free events in front of the Tate Modern over the weekend. It seems that loads of the people attending were from out of town (based on an unscientific poll from a friend who went to many of the events and found most of his partners were visiting London).
I went to part of yesterday afternoon’s events for an hour or so as well as a look at the Tate’s Cy Twombly exhibition, before the weekend caught up with me and I needed to go home.
Here is my polling, smiling friend David, in front of the Millennium Bridge.
A demonstration from David Benitez and Kim Schwartz.
And friends from South London Tango, who looked blissful as they danced.
This week, to celebrate the birthday of a chocoholic friend, I wanted to bake him some appropriately-flavoured fairy cakes, which could be shared around our tango class. My sister had recommended The Dinner Lady’s (Jeanette Orrey) recipe. I can say, definitely, that the recipe was a complete success – including a few being left over for my friend to take home.
I’ve just returned from three days in Venice – and wow – it was just wonderful. I went with a photographer friend Yvonne Blume, who understood completely how much fun it was to take a camera. The sun stayed out for us on all three days, except for a minor blip of a hail storm while we were having dinner one night. We spent a lot of our first day or so on the river taxis, seeing the architecture and water life, including the postal service, police, ambulance and builders. The last afternoon was a relaxing wander and basking in the sun at the gardens surrounding the area where the Biennale arts festival takes place every two years, with the hot smell of summer honeysuckle.
A Canaletto-style view.
Gondoliers enter the Grand Canal.
The boats at rest.
I wanted to photograph people in their windows … this was a fave.
Early morning duties.
And an early morning phone call.
And finally, a portrait of Yvonne on the island of Burano, which has houses with the brightest palette of colours you could imagine. Last weekend’s clients Will and Anna recommended this island after their visit a couple of weeks ago.
