Last time I was at home in Dublin, about 2 weeks ago, I had the chance to shoot with photographer Gareth Byrd. I've been a huge fan of his work for a long time so was thrilled when we started corresponding regarding working together. The shoot took place on an unused dairy farm in North Co. Dublin. It was fantastic! The place was full or interesting nooks and crannies, brightly painted rooms that had fallen into glorious decay, old barns stacked to the roof with wooden crates, and artfully mould-dappled walls. I found some pretty cool creepy crawlies too, including a zebra-striped spider eating a fly, and an abandoned butterfly caccoon that I took with me to show to my 4-year-old nephew.

The location

"Zebra" spider eating lunch 

Insects, spiders and other bugs have always fascinated me, ever since I was little. As a child, I hated that I was a girl and went out of my way to be a boyish as possible. That included shunning dolls and girly toys of all kinds (except Polly Pockets, they were too much fun), loving anything to do with insects and dinosaurs, demanding my hair be cut short,  and wearing dungarees and little Dr Martens constantly. My Mam likes reminding me how anytime she tried to put me in a dress I'd get sick all over it so I wouldn't have to wear it!! What a delightful child I was!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Gareth had a lighting assistant on hand for the day named Michelle who was an absolute dote and even brought along a picnic for us :) 

Yummy

We got a huge amount done in a very short amount of time. We had about 3 hours to prep and shoot as everyone was quite restricted timewise, but we got an impressive amount of poses, looks and locations shot. Gareth used a combination of natural and artificial light, to wonderful effect. I kept my makeup simple and natural to start with as the focus was on the posing and composition, and then added red lipstick and dark eye makeup later on for some portrait shots. I am so delighted with what we managed to achieve, and absolutely adore the results. Gareth was fantastic to work with, encouraging, relaxed, knowledgeable and fun. Michelle was a complete sweetheart and I hope I get the chance to work with both of them again in the future. 

Here are the shots, can't choose a favourite!

Sooo.....

It's been a weird few months. At the end of March I suffered a massive OCD relapse and had to leave work and go home to Ireland and everything. It was a total kick in the face. I just woke up one morning and suddenly it was back, all those horrible, tortuous, tormenting thoughts and suffocating anxiety. I cried so much I nearly passed out from dehydration and exhaustion. It really was not fun. I'm back in Cambridge now and massively improved, but the fear of it happening again hangs over me constantly. I have come to realise that I will never be free of it. Well anyway, enough of that! PICTURES!!!

The following 2 photos are by the eccentric and wonderful artist, writer and photographer Julian Baker whom I worked with in December 2011 at his studio in London. The other lovely nudey model is Ms Jezebel and the hair and makeup was done by hair artist and wigmaker Katkinoko.

The next set of shots is by photographer Jeremy Kruse, aka Burntlight. I've worked with him a few times and he is such a hilarious guy! It's always a pleasure. He shoots from his home in Peterborough and it is one of the coolest houses I've been in. Every corner and nook has something unique and wonderful, like the big ass painted wooden rocking horse in his sitting room that I have yet to shoot with! I love how we manage to get something completely different and unexpected every time.

Right that's about my quota for the day methinks. I should go and make some dinner. I think I'll have fish fingers.

I'm being really cheeky here, but I felt I should skip on to some more recent shoots I have done, mostly because I'm just so excited about sharing the images! A couple of weeks ago I took a train (or 3) down to Kemble, near Bath to stay and shoot with a certain Mr Stefano Brunesci. I arrived quite late in the evening but was given the warmest welcome and lots of tea. I stayed up chatting for most of the night with Stefano and Madame Bink (who lives there too with her boyfriend, Adam Robertson) and there was much banter and much giggling. Their three gorgeous dogs also joined us for some scratches and cuddles. I was delighted to discover that Bink, like me, is an avid penguin fan :D I had arranged also to do a shoot with Bink while I was there so the next day, after some much-needed coffee, we got down to business.

Bink and I shot some lovely natural light images with minimal makeup upstairs in one of the bedrooms first. I love the soft lighting and pinkish tone, it gives them a really feminine, almost ethereal feel.

Bink then proceeded to climb out onto the roof at the front of the house to take some shots of me through one of the upstairs windows. I was absolutely terrified watching her twisting around and balancing on the edge of the roof, I can only imagine how she must have felt! It can't be said that the girl's not dedicated to her craft!

To finish off, we did some studio shots near the end of the day, after I had finished shooting with Stefano. These were again very soft and feminine, but the studio and lighting setup made them very different to what we had shot earlier. I adore how they turned out, especially the first one :)

Here's a link to some more of Bink's photography work: http://www.binkography.blogspot.com/

Bink is also a full-time model, specialising in artistic nude. I was quite excited to meet her because I had been following her modelling career for the past couple of years, and definitely regard her as one of the top artistic nude models in the UK, if not the world. She goes by the pseudonym Madame Bink, I'm sure you've heard of her ;) http://madamebink.co.uk/

I really enjoyed shooting with Bink. She's so sweet and funny and incredibly down-to-earth. And she loves penguins. Need I say more?