David Bailey's Stardust

At the weekend, I went home to London to see family and friends, but more importantly to see David Bailey's exhibition Stardust at the National Portrait Gallery. David Bailey has always been one of my favourite photographers, in fact I think it's safe to say that it was his work that first got me into photography - as Bailey himself once said, 'It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary'. So it is safe to say that my expectations were high, and I'm thrilled to report the exhibition did not disappoint. I absolutely loved the diverse range of his work and the exhibition really illustrated the extraordinary range of subjects that Bailey has captured: actors, writers, musicians, filmmakers, designers, models, artists and people encountered on his travels; many of them famous, some anonymous, all of them perfectly captured. That's the thing I love about him, he really manages to capture the individual, no matter who they are or where they're from you are shown a sense of their personality.

It is extremely rare that a leading institution allows an artist to curate his or her own retrospective, however I am so glad that they did. Featuring over 250 images, personally selected and printed by Bailey, the exhibition offers an unmissable opportunity to experience the work of one of the world’s greatest image-makers. He also designed the book (a must purchase of mine of course!) in fact Sandy Nairne, the gallery's Director, admitted that giving the artist such free rein was unusual; "We had to relax. It became very clear that he did have a vision about this show. This is Bailey through and through." But by giving Bailey free reign, we got to see all sides of his work, not just the famous shots of models and rock stars. In fact one whole room was dedicated to his wife Catherine Bailey, and featured many intensely personal shots of her and their children. As a huge fan of his work, I was wonderfully surprised at how few images in the exhibition I had actually seen before!

So, just in case you haven't got the hint, I loved the show and could not recommend it enough - I'm definitely going back whenever I'm next in London! To give you a little taste of what's on show, here's an extremely small selection of my favourites.

Black and White

Just a few images from a film I neglected last year. Enjoy!

Laura Knight Portraits

On Friday I treated myself to an evening of art at the National Portrait Gallery where I was delighted to see artist I new very little about, Laura Knight.

Dame Laura Knight was one of the most popular and successful British artists of the 20th century. Her achievements were recognised in 1936 when she became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy since its foundation. Knight used portraiture to capture life and culture, and her paintings are remarkable for their diverse range of subjects and settings. Her artistic career took her from Cornwall to Baltimore, and from the circus to the Nuremberg Trials. She painted dancers at the Ballet Russes and Gypsies at Epsom races, and was acclaimed for her work as an official war artist.

Knight managed to really capture all her models and the detail that went into her work was incredible. I am definitely excited for her biography Laura Knight: A Life by Barbara C. Morden to come out this October to read more about such an inspirational artist. I urge you to go see this stunning exhibition for yourselves, you have until the 13th October so there's no excuse not to, but for now, here's a few of my favourtie Laura Knight portraits.

Gypsy Splendor, 1939

Self Portrait, 1913. This self portrait was a defining work in Knight's career. The female nude was a historically male subject, and when Knight was a student, women art students were denied access to nude models, working instead from statues and plaster casts.

Joan Rhodes, 1955

Ethel Bartlett, 1926

Ruby loftus Screwing a Breech Ring, 1943

The Gypsy, 1939

At Home in the Mountains

As promised here is a selection of the many photos I took on my holiday to St Anton. I absolutely loved Austria, it was incredibly beautiful. I sat for a whole morning outside on the slopes over looking the vast landscape and really felt in awe of the world we live in.
So I hope you enjoy the photographs, all taken on my Yashica film camera, depicting sun, snow, slopes and of course, a hell of a lot of apres ski.

Readers Updated

As friends and family know, I am an avid reader who loves nothing more than curling up with a good cup of tea and a great book I can loose myself in.
As our ever increasingly hectic schedules leave us with very little time to sit and relax I aim to document the ways in which we manage to fit in a few moments of peace and quiet with a good book. Whether on our everyday commute, at a restaurant or coffee shop or just curled up on the sofa the solitary act of reading is enjoyed by all. As technology expands reading is still very much present, which the invention of kindles, smartphones and increasingly smaller laptops has reading become even more popular? This is something I am exploring everyday with my photography, as some of you may know from earlier blogs.
It has been a while since I updated you all on the project, so here are a few of my most recent photographs. To see the whole project visit my website

Happy Reading!