Thursday 20 September 2012

Goursac at night - tribute to Magritte

In early June, I spent a week photographing (and staying in!) the beautiful 18th century chateau that is Goursac.  Living in a converted barn across a beautiful Lime-tree-lined lawn is Betrand Davezac, whose family bought the chateau when he was a boy.  An art historian, he abandoned his own painting at 16, and his adult life was spent almost entirely in the US, where he was curator to a number of collections, including Houston's Menil Collection.  Within the Collection, there are a number of paintings by Rene Magritte, and I'm a fan.  A number of paintings by the artist which I find particularly intriguing are of a large house at night, with yellow lamp-lit windows, including 'Fin du Monde''L'Empire des Lumieres' (1954) depicts what appears to be a nighttime scene of a house, but with a daytime blue sky above.  Wondering around the delicious cricket-chirp-filled Goursac gardens at night, when I tore my gaze from the millions of stars, I noticed that the chateau had a similar feel to the Magritte images, and I wanted to create a Magritte- and Betrand-inspired image of the place.  Below are a couple of my favourites, as well as a portrait of the amazing Betrand Davezac on his drive.  Many more pictures of Goursac to come, but in the meantime these will have to do!  I am really happy with the way the night images turned out, and they have not been manipulated to improve in post-processing - what you see is what I saw on that summer night.

Oxford photographer










Ghostly!
Betrand Davezac - a wonderful and fascinating host

Monday 17 September 2012

Kismet - group photography session

Way back in February, I spent a wintery afternoon working with folk quartet Kismet at Iffley Church.  The remit was to create images which spoke of abundance, and we spent a lovely time creating a stunning mandala using cross sections of fruit, on the church floor.  The images which have been subsequently used by Kismet in their publicity material, and in The Oxford Times, don't feature any fruit as it happens, but I'm sure you'll be glad to know it was very tasty - if only all my sessions culminated in a fruit binge on a cold church floor, with the sound of laughter and friendship echoing around the room.  A great gang to spend time with.

Kismet make beautiful music.  'Tender songs and passionate uplifting tunes. An exciting ensemble weaving delicate vocal harmonies with a rich variety of instruments.'  They are playing as part of Oxford's upcoming 'Kicking the Bucket' festival (www.kickingthebucket.co.uk), which began with an open morning at Helen & Douglas House, and runs into November; much anticipated highlights include a Mexican Mariachi Band and dancers at the Four Pillars on October 26th.  See the website for details and tickets.

The festival organiser is Liz Rothschild, who runs Westmill Woodland Burial Site (www.woodlandburialwestmill.co.uk).  I did a shoot with Liz over the summer at the burial ground and her beautiful farm, to create images for the festival publicity, so look out for my work on the site - blog post to follow soon.  In the meantime, here are a couple from my shoot with the lovely Kismet.





Group portrait Oxford

Sunday 16 September 2012

Arun - informal portrait photography session

Hailing from the Old Smoke, Arun journeyed to join me for a one-hour session split in two between the Ashmolean and University Parks.  We managed to pick a sunny day, not quite sure how!  Below are a couple of my favourites from the shoot.  Thanks for a fun hour Arun :)

Oxford portrait photographer