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Time for your close up...

YvonneGuntrippHeidiwater

So I just had the honour of being a featured artist in Musicians Union Magazine 'The Musician'. They rang up to say that 'Lost in Grey' was a really special release so they were going to write a piece on it. Unfortunately none of my existing pictures were hi res enough so I didn't get the full double page spread of my face, but they did single my album out in the review section as 'STAND OUT'.

About time for a photoshoot we thought. But why only do one photoshoot when you can do two?

So this is what we did.

For the first shoot, I was looking for a local photographer and found a flyer for 'Hollywood Glamour style' with Yvonne Guntripp. The picture looked very film noir and immediately appealed to me. Looking at the website, the photographic duo couple had produced lots of interesting artistic images in their home studio, from characters of antiquity to very modern mixed media photomontage style images. After meeting with them I knew a collaboration was going to be very creative and exciting.

The day was fabulous. In the morning we used traditional theatrical lighting and Yvonne and Dave experimented with silhouettes and shadows, using the violin as a striking theme for the backdrop. The pictures were moody and dark. Then there were outfit changes and the colour splash suggested new backdrops. Sporting a frilly, multi-layered 1980's ball gown I tried out new poses, less serious, more playful. The temptation was to go a bit Copa Cobana with the bright colours and some of my attempts at looking quirky and fun came across more like crazy spoilt kid at a party in her Mum's wedding dress. I'm not overly experienced in photoshoots so you live and learn! We also tried for a fairytale and mythic feel and these photos came out really well. The whistful, dreamy fairytale princess sat on a tuffet seems to be the pose to go for. I also availed myself of some of Yvonne's dried flowers for use as an impromptu flute. Once Yvonne went in with her after effects, the look was complete and we had some really strong images. www.yvonneguntripp-photography.co.uk

Glen Jevon 1

My second shoot was with photographer and cameraman Glen Jevon, from The New Forest. I was booked to record in River Studios down in Southampton so we tied in a photoshoot the day before. In early planning emails we discussed my love of the crumbling decadent beauty of the British seaside resort: the rusty pier, the pastel coloured beach huts, the tacky amusement arcades.

However, in the meanwhile we had gail-force winds, floods, collapsing cliffs and power cuts so the idea of donning a playsuit and frolicking on the promenade in early March was looking unlikely. By some fluke, the weather was 12degrees, sunny and bright! When I arrived at Southampton train station I had to put on my shades! Off we zoomed to Southsea beach, soya coffee in hand. We had a whistlestop tour of all the seaside attractions including the closed fun fair, the beach, the chip shop, rose garden and swan boats. Everywhere had that whistful feeling of off-season-ness which I really liked. We even managed to squeeze in making a music video. I sang along to 'You Make Me Smile' wearing my friend's 6year-olds heart-shaped glasses: www.facebook.com/GlenJevon.