Photographing the stars

We just got back from London where Steven insisted we needed a few more books, you know, because our house hasn't got enough stuff in it already and there is still a corridoor of space between the living room and the door... He laid them all out on the table for me to see when we got in.


In amongst them is a book on Eve Arnold that I was reading last night. Arnold was a Magnum photographer famous for her images of Marilyn Monroe back in the early 60s, and photographed a variety of stars in a documentary fashion on their film sets. Its fascinating to read how Arnold gained people's trust and managed to capture moments that many others would not have. She is quoted as saying, "If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument." Here are a few snippets I found interesting:

Marlene Dietrich demanded that her negatives be altered to make her appear thinner and more attractive, (1950s photoshop - they altered photographs back then too of course) but taking a risk, Arnold ignored her and printed them using her own techniques because she thought the original photographs were beautiful enough. Dietrich loved them.

A drunken Joan Crawford demanded to be photographed naked, and since Arnold was nervous, she accidentally loaded colour film into her camera that she would be unable to process herself. Panicking afterwards since she couldn't hand the film over to a lab, she spent the whole night learning colour processing. The day after, Crawford wanted to see the images and Arnold had managed to develop them without ruining any.

Actress Anne Bancroft hated being photographed since she had always thought of herself as ugly (I think there is only a minority of the population that doesn't apply to actually). She only sat still for Arnold to photograph her on set because she thought she looked "so small and lost" carrying such a little camera. Afterwards Bancroft saw the images and gasped, 'I am beautiful!'

Its interesting to learn about how photographers this successful gain the trust of the people they are photographing, because once you know how to use your camera, all thats left to distiguish you from everyone else is how you get the best from your subjects.

Here is Eve Arnold's Magnum webpage: http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R14AZX1&nm=Eve%20Arnold

Natasha and James - Engagement Session!

Phew, I haven't posted for a while, bad me. I was on holiday and then I was sick (excuses, excuses!). Anyway, here is a post that will cheer everyone up. Natasha and James are THE cutest couple I've ever met! They are so lush - I want to bottle them and take them home with me. They are getting married in September next year and I'm unable to shoot the wedding because we'll be away (...darn! - its going to be a really cool wedding too) so we decided to do an engagement session instead. I just realised that I've chosen lots of kissing photos for the blog, but thats okay, because the idea of the engagement session is that I capture Natasha and James being in love together. This was done in London by the way.

Here they are!




I used to work with Natasha so I know that she is always this smiley - I imagine her and James are like this all the time! Lush.



Look at the fabulous shoes!!











This is so romantic in a kind of gritty urban way don't you think?





How sexy is this?



Okay, just to set the scene here - it was about 5pm on a cold, windy, rainy Saturday in November, and Natasha and James are each wearing a cocktail dress and a thin shirt, standing in the middle of the traffic on tower bridge being stared at by tourists and photographed about 15 times to get the shot right (we did non-kissing shots too). I feel like I should be paying THEM! Wowee!



This is such a good idea. We did a few different versions of this shot so that they can choose one to send on a card to friends and family about the wedding next year.



Ah, more romance - this is where they had their first date!



The ring - I didn't even comment on it on the day, but looking at it in the photos I love it!! So unusual and really stunning.



Okay, last one I promise!



I'll have your gallery up in a couple of days guys. Thank you so much for being such good sports. Natasha, if you have a cold now after all that exposure I'm sorry - it was worth it though wasn't it? speak soon xxx