Today we have another of Faye’s images taken on our recent Art Nude workshop @ Pavilion Studio a couple of weeks ago. Again the model is Fredau and shot in one of the top floor ante rooms of Blackburn House with available light. It is Faye’s birthday today so we are having a bit of a relaxing day, well apart from welcoming Chris and Andy from Smug Mug to our home for lunch, and then out to dinner tonight with close family and friends. Tomorrow sees another test session and then out for a meal with one of our models who is now all grown up with 2 beautiful sons.

Over the past couple of years Faye and I have been building a portfolio of work based around a small woodland that is close to use here at Claremont.  Binny Wood is what remains of a much larger estate and has Binny Craig in its center which is a prominent West Lothian landmark. We have taken a few workshops to this location in addition to several visits on our own. This particular image was made over a year ago, Christiane was the model and I must say that she showed remarkable fortitude when I first suggested that she lay down on this damp,rough, lichen and insect covered fallen log. She was such a professional that she did as I requested without hesitation though her body was quite marked afterwards and we had to end the session. The image has recently been produced as a platinum/palladium print with the help of our good friend Carl Radford.

2 bits of exciting new today. Firstly that our long planned Art Nude workshop in Malta now looks to be taking place. See below for details. And secondly we are delighted to have been invited back to PTO, last time was in 97, for an Art Nude workshop in Lanzarote –  Sunday 27 January – Sunday 3 February 2013

Just a few places now remaining. Book your place before the end of February for a 10% discount.

This was an image created by Faye during our Art Nude workshop at Pavilion Studio earlier this month. The wonderful Fredau was our model for the day and this particular image was made in one of the top floor rooms  of Blackburn House using natural daylight and a Nikon D300 with 24mm-70mm lens.

I thought that each week I would find an image from our archives to discuss with you. Faye will also be showing and discussing some of her work in the months ahead. Today’s image is called ‘Glass Clouds’ for obvious reasons. It dates back to around 1987 and the subject was Karen, one of our all time favourites to work with. Now Karen was not really a model though she did do some work for other photographers, mostly hair work. No, Karen worked in Boots the Chemist in Edinburgh and you could have passed her by without a second glance. However when it came to working with Faye and I Karen took on a whole different look. When she was nude Karen appeared to grow in stature and became all together a different person. She was also very brave, enduring some freezing Scottish weather down on the beach and in the woods of the Scottish Borders. Karen’s hair in this image was cut and styled by Faye, creating that classic 1930’s bob which I so love. The image was made in our bedroom @ 21 East Claremont Street Edinburgh. Two very large Georgian sash and case windows gave all the daylight that was required and the circle of glass that Karen is holding is in fact the top of one of the bedside tables and it catches beautifully the reflection of the windows and the clouds beyond. I also love Karen’s reflection on our bedroom wall which also shows the window and clouds. In fact if you look at the image although Karen is nude she is showing nothing! Taken, hand held with my old Hasselblad 500c with an 80mm lens onto TMax100 film stock.  The original exhibition image was made onto Kodak Ektalure paper. Another image next week.

Places are filling fast for our Fine Art Nude workshop on Sunday the 10th of June so if you are interested in joining us for the day then don’t delay. We are delighted to have 2 of the UK’s top art nude models with us for the day, Zoi and Ella Rose.

While looking through some archive images today Faye and I discovered several of my very first Platinum/Palladium images dating from 1986 so we decided to make some copies in order that we can share them with you.  The subject is Alison, originally from Falkirk and our art nude model at that time, who has been living in Washington DC for the past 20 or so years and has 3 beautiful sons to look after. We also found several Platinum/Palladium images from the Yerbury Archives, these are still in wonderful condition and are of a large size. One is a contact print 25″x20″ from the original glass plate negative. Subjects include King George V, Andrew Carnegie and the author of Peter Pan, J M Barrie.  We hope to be posting some of these remarkable portraits later this week.

We are delighted to announce that we have managed to secure one of Europe’s leading art nude models for the above workshop. We first photographed Zoi over 2 years ago when she was just starting her career as a model. She is now based in Amsterdam and is a regular model for various Playboy Europe editions.