Thursday 14th June had ben pencilled in as the day to work with Anna Bonnefoy for several weeks. Anna is from Newcastle Upon Tyne but was coming down to Nottingham for a few days. Even though it wasn't a special journey to work with me I didn't want to leave a hole in her plans, the weather having been so unseasonal and changeable I was worried we'd have to postpone.

The day before was very grey, cold and at times wet. The forecast for Thursday morning was much better although it seemed almost impossible.

Thursday morning dawned dry and sunny but cool, would it last long enough for us ? So many nornings started well but soon faded.

I met Anna at the railway station at 10am, there was still a cool breeze but also lots of sunshine with just the odd cloud, it could have been warmer but after the preceeding days it was such a relief.

We had a half hour drive to the first location, would the weather be as good there ? Would it hold out for us ? Thankfully it did :-)

The first location was a wood in Derbyshire, in parts Anna still had to brave the cool wind as it was tunneled along paths between the trees, in other parts it was more sheltered and Anna could enjoy the warmth of the mid summer sun :-)

For the second part of the shoot we drove just a little further into Staffordshire. We worked close to the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border. Anna clearly liked the locations as she stopped briefly at times to take some photo's of the landscapes on her phone :-)

Again Anna was exposed to the chill wind, but she didn't complain once and posed beautifully despite everything nature threw at her. Whilst working by the river the breeze was coming across the water making it particularly cold. Throughout the shoot I made sure Anna had plenty of warm up breaks, she rewarded me by helping me create some wonderful images.

As we finished off the sune was slipping behind building cloud, now making just very brief appearances.

When you first work with someone you are never quite sure how it will go, whether you will get on with each other etc., Anna surpassed all of my expectations. I hope we get to work together again in the very near future.

There will be more photoo's added when I have had time to edit them :-)

On the afternoon of May 31st I had the pleasure of working with Charlotte Barnes. I knew Charlotte was based around Derby but didn't know, until we started talking about doing a shoot, just how close she is to me - about 5 minutes by car !!!!

The weather wasn't as good as forecast being cool and drizzly rather than warm and dry, the weather gods have a lot of fun at my expense ! Luckily I know of some places that offer shelter on such days. As they are about a half hour drive away it allowed Charlotte and myself to get to know each other a little, always a good thing prior to a first shoot, especially a nude shoot, (Charlotte nude that is, not me !).

Charlotte is one of the nicest, most polite and most considerate girls I know, she is also a bit crazy in the nicest possible way :-) I can see us getting together many more times :-)

Just one image for now, more to follow in the near future when I have had time to edit them :-)

A fun blonde

Several years ago, (before the digital cameras were made, these are film scans), I worked with a model called Michelle from Sheffield. A proper Yorkshire lass, called a shovel a shovel etc., and great fun as well as a good model.

Our first shoot was arranged for July, we arranged it just a few days before and at the time the weather was hot and sunny, ideal. On the day it was very grey, cool and started drizzling ! You can see from the first few shots the light was poor too and Michelle was quickly becoming cold.

Luckilly I had a mate with me, he wanted to get into photography and acted as assistant, he knew a local farm with a campsite, more importantly they had an indoor swimming pool ! Daz rang the farm and asked if the pool was available, great news it was ! Michelle being very professional had said she'd cope outdoors, but the news that the pool was available really lifted her spirits :-)

 The lads working on the farm had awful bad memories, constantly having to walk past the wall of pool room windows to get things from the sheds next door ! None of this bothered Michelle in the least. When it started to rain properly Michelle went over to the windows. You would think the farm lads would have taken shelter, but obviously you have to keep working, and walking past on a farm !

Overall a good time was had by all :-)

Some weeks later Michelle rang to say the 'weather is good and I have some time free, do you wnat to shoot again ?'. It was too good a chance to miss :-)

This time the weather held for us, much better for the pic's and definitely better for Michelle.

There's quite a busy road ust the other side of that wall ! While Michelle was sat there the police helicopter went over ! Michelle said, 'You can't get away from those things' with no attempt to cover herself ! A few minutes later the helicopter came back over heading to it's nearby base, Daz said 'They are going back for more film !'

You can see Michelle loves what she does and had a fun time, as did we all.

A beauty who retired, but is now back !

Back in November 2010 I worked with a great model called Elfin. It was a second attempt at a shoot with her. She had to borrow her aunts car and sat nav to get around and the sat nav was pretty dodgy. The first time we tried to meet she got within a mile of the meeting point when the sat nav sent her down a track meant only for the ranger service to access the Peak District moors. Elfin rang me rather frightened and panicky to say she was lost on a rough track in the middle of  who knows where with nowhere to turn around. All I could advise her to do was to keep going, luckilly she found her way to a reservoir with a car park and access to the main roads, but by now she was miles from me and it was raining heavily. It would have taken me half an hour to get to her via proper roads, reluctantly we had to abandone the shoot.

I was concerned that she wouldn't want to try again, but she did a couple of weeks later. We decided though to use a different, supposedly easier to find location. This time her sat nav had her turn off to the east when it should have said west and 7 miles further south !

She rang to say she was lost again but had found a pub next to a church. It was quite early one Sunday morning and no one was around, I didn't know where to start trying to find her. Then a gardner arrived to start work in a clients garden. I asked if he new of a pub next to a church in the area. After a bit of thought he gave me great directions to the only one he could think of and off I went.

I found it after a bit of turning around and there was Elfin sat in her car looking a little worried and lonely. It was such a relief to find each other. Then it was a drive 7 miles south to the location, which was once the route of a small railway but now connects a very small village with a local beauty spot. Being quite a long walk between village and beauty spot and it being a cold and frosty November Sunday morning I had thought it would be jsut the two of us. At first it was relativley quiet, although soon after Elfin bravely went nude in the cold we saw a jogger coming so she soon got a warm up slipping into her bath robe and her coat. As the hours passed it got busier and busier, Elfin stood in a cream coloured bath robe on a now busy track while people passed by, she got some odd looks but it didn't put her off and as soon as people had moved away a little she was uncovered and posing wonderfully again.

She did brilliantly despite the cold and so many passers by. Before she left we were discussing working together again when it warmed up in the spring, then a few weeks later she contacted me to say she needed to concentrate on her studying and was going to have to take a break from her modelling. That often means they are gone for good, a great shame when they are a great model. But in Elfin's case she is back, I really hope I get to work with her again, I know though she is going to be very popular and possibly too booked up, we shall see :-) 

Annabelle, the last shoot

I worked with Annabelle a few times. The first time she was very comfortable with me but was not accustomed to working in the open countryside, consequently she was a little nervous and constantly scanning around for other people coming along.

By the time we did this shoot she was very relaxed. At one pint while we were working alongside the river a couple came along on the other side. Annabelle wasn't the least bit disturbed, I had to suggest she stand near a Hawthorn bush so it was between her and the couple. She actually seemed quite excited to know they were just feet away while she frolicked nude for the camera.

We used several differnet locations that day, you feel by moving you are less likely to get caught, but then at a new location you don't know if someone else is already there out of sight ?

Sadly since these were shot Annabelle has finished at university and is concentrating on her 'proper' career. I am hoping she misses her modelling and one day again disrobes for me in some beautiful countryside.