Eleanor Jane

Ffoto Week 02.02.12

Hello hello! This time last year I was sunning it up on the road in California so January 2012 was always going to be a bit of a plod-along month in comparison. For me anyway... Peabrain still flew out to Los Angeles to work for a week while I was left home alone. I consoled myself by planning our next trip (why is Tombstone so far away from everywhere else?!).

1. He did bring me back this awesome repro Elvis poster from Amoeba Records though. Love it! I'll have to get a frame asap.

2. New year, new business cards! Amazing customer service from Moo after my order arrived all muddy coloured & wrong. They dispatched a new batch the following day and they were perfect.

3. Some of my Zakk Wylde shots from last year are in (& on the cover of, yay!) the new Rock Guitar Heroes book from Guitarist magazine. He's in good company between Jack White and Angus Young so I'm well pleased.

4. I've been so obsessed with my new pedometer I've even had it clipped to my pyjamas and accidentally worn it to bed several times. My inspiration? This study. My mission? To beat the Amish! Yesterday I finally succeeded but I'm still fixated with it and need a new challenge.

5. The most exciting thing to happen is that one of my brides from last year, Emma, is starring in the new Simple skincare advert in America... and so are my photos - woohoo!

The Lash

Introducing my boyfriend Chris' latest musical incarnation, The Lash, a 45,000 RPM rock 'n' soul hurricane blowing through a city near you soon. Like the devoted girlfriend that I am I allowed them to drag me out of bed very early on a Sunday morning to shoot these pictures at Les Croupiers casino in Cardiff (with the aid of a very large tea and the promise of a giant sandwich afterwards!). Check out their new single here and more tracks here.

Backstage at Opeth - Guitar World

Ok, I'm aware that it sounds like I say this about everyone I seem to meet through my photography, but Opeth are such friendly, down-to-earth people… I'm starting to believe there's no such thing as the stereotypical rock & roll ego!

I recently joined them on a couple of dates of their UK tour to shoot some behind the scenes pictures for Guitar World magazine and they were so very cool & accommodating. Frederik Akesson is an incredible guitarist, his playing mesmerised me into a state of total adoration and I have to admit I left with a little bit of an obsession! At one point I was up on the balcony of the Birmingham O2 seeking out a new angle to photograph sound check from but was so enthralled by Frederik’s intricate playing I ended up sat tucked away in the corner, watching & listening, camera in my lap… oops.

The magazine came out last week in America so hopefully a few copies should trickle across the ocean soon. In the meantime, here’s an awesome song called Slither from the new album, written in tribute to Ronnie James Dio. Enjoy!

 

 

The Hyde Family Portraits

I love outdoorsy, natural portraits. Although they're always a risk in the dismal British climate I think it's worth battling the elements to achieve something more interesting than the standard high key, white backdrop look. Thankfully Robbie and his kids thought so too, so in early December we took off to the Newport Wetlands nature reserve to shoot some surprise pictures as a Christmas gift for his wife. The rain held off and we even had an intense burst of sunshine which enhanced the bright colours of the kids clothes until they popped against the dark grey of the rainclouds in the distance. Don't you just love it when nature Photoshops for you?!

Baby Tomos

Do you remember Owain & Stacey's pretty country barn wedding from late 2010? Well, they certainly didn't waste any time settling in to family life - I think most of us were still recovering from the epic reception party when they announced that baby Tomos was on his way! Here's a sneaky peek at some shots I took of him at four weeks (he's nine weeks old now), awake & wriggling like crazy. Until I finish knitting my bright & cheerful newborn hats I'm loving shooting these baby pictures almost exclusively in black & white. Hope you guys like them too!

Anna Calvi - Total Guitar

YES! The January issue of Total Guitar magazine is out which means I can finally share my favourite portrait of 2011 (at long last!) - the beautiful and enigmatic Anna Calvi. This photo was taken in the hull of the Bristol Thekla months & months ago just before the live gig I shot for this feature. I stepped pretty far out of my comfort zone with all the music photography over the past few months but I've definitely thrived on the chaos... here's hoping for more awesome band shoots in 2012. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Em & Marc: Wedding Ideas magazine

Thank you Wedding Ideas magazine for featuring Em & Marc's wedding in the latest issue - I love it! It's been fabulously put together and the reproduction of the photographs is perfect, the colours just *pop* off the page! Wedding Ideas is a cute, compact little mag and the focus is on real brides & their weddings rather than lots of editorial models, which is great if you're insatiably curious about real people (or as some might say, just plain nosey!). If you're stuck on theme ideas or sourcing the perfect details & accessories the pages are also crammed with mood boards and supplier information. I'm not even planning a wedding and I've been obsessing over it all morning!

PS. Em is so gorgeous she's going to be in the new Simple skincare advert when they launch in America next year - exciting!

More Bébés!

Reading my Facebook, Twitter feed and chatting to my friends it would seem I'm the only person who is NOT pregnant at the moment! Despite this constant pressing need for baby gifts galore, my knitting is coming along very slowly (I can stil only knit rectangles*) and as such, I have no sweet & colourful elf hat props yet. I'm determined to make them myself, but until then, here's another newborn shoot with soft natural colours (thankfully this little man was more than happy with that!).

Baby Alfie is the newest addition to my school friend Katie's family. He's super handsome, well behaved and remarkably clever for someone who only popped into the world a week ago. Are newborns supposed to be able to lift their heads yet?!

*Peabrain's Christmas rectangle is over a metre long so far!

Hannah & Kieran

Hannah & Kieran were married at the Brecon Castle Hotel, overlooking the mountains just above the beautiful Brecon Beacons national park, the perfect location for a Welsh wedding. Cymru am byth! Apparently it’s one of the oldest hotels in Wales. The hotel was built in the early 1800s but I was fascinated to find out there has been a castle on the site since the eleventh century.

This was a small, sweet, family wedding and Hannah was such a cute bride – always smiling, even after getting delayed behind a tractor on her journey to the venue that morning. I've never seen a bride get dressed so quickly in my life! Also, I have to say how much I LOVED her giant crystal pendant. One for me too please, Santa? Strangely enough I didn’t find out until I delivered her wedding pictures that we went to the same school together. Hannah was a few years above me so I never knew her back then, but small world, hey?

Richard Hawley - Guitarist

What a lovely bloke Richard Hawley is! A couple of months back I travelled up to Sheffield to photograph him with Jamie from Guitarist magazine and he couldn’t have been more welcoming and down to earth.

We met at Yellow Arch studios, a quirky little red brick building that has a kind of bleak Victorian workhouse vibe from the street (!) but once inside I was amazed; wall to wall guitars (at least a hundred, if not more), stacks of vintage gear and an enormous mountain of empty guitar cases. Hawley had relocated his entire collection to the studios while recording the new album and every instrument had a wonderful story behind it. I shot endless guitars and Jamie recorded so many fascinating stories that the feature seems to have spiralled into an eight page monster! I’ve included some of my favourite pictures that didn’t make the spread below but there are lots more on the iPad version of the magazine here (if you're that way inclined).

I have to say, this is one of the most interesting and rewarding commissions I think I’ve ever worked on. Weeks later, when I was photographing Meena & James’ wedding in Nottingham, they chose Coles Corner as their first dance and I had a little happy moment in my head remembering the shoot.