say 'cheese'...

Okay, yes, it's cheesy! but how could I resist... the other day I had a shoot with Giel, a young cheese maker, who makes extremely scrummy gouda! I'm actually quite proud that I stopped myself from telling him to say 'cheese' when we were shooting!!

So, anyway, it was great fun and Giel, his family, his cheese and his cows were great to photograph... I did manage to get cow poo on my dress and a not-so-lovely cow sneeze in my hair but other than that I came away with a tasty sample of gouda and some great shots!

If you are local to Cornwall you may already have tried this family's cornish gouda but, if not, keep an eye out for it cos it's worth a taste (their website if you want to take a peek)

a couple of the shots... Giel, you really do have a fab smile!

Concept...

A palimpsest (/ˈpælɪmpsɛst/) is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped or washed off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος (palímpsestos, “scratched or scraped again”).

I am trying to really think about the concepts behind the photo shoots, sets and series I am doing at the moment. 

Over the last year I have mainly just taken one-off portraits of the people around me, catching a moment or trying to capture an essence of a person in one image. I want to get away from this and really spend time planning or at least have an idea of what I am aiming for before snapping away. Not necessarily a really complicated concept, just more thought than your average point and click, pretty pics. With this in mind my most recent shoot with Eftychios, a greek architect student, was inspired by his thesis; the idea of 'Palimpsests'.

Eftychios is exploring the idea of palimpsests within the context of architectural interventions in order to rehabilitate and restore abandoned or ruined structures. 

In the 19th century 'Muralla Nazari', the wall that surrounds Granada, was partially ruined by an earthquake. Antonio Jimenez Torrecillas proposed a visual re-write of this ancient landmark and so a new, modern design was added to the existing wall. This is a perfect example of a palimpsest. Through writing his thesis, the Muralla Nazari has begun to mean something more to Eftychios; a connection that I wanted to develop.

With this set of photographs I was hoping to do exactly that; portraits of Eftychios with the Muralla Nazari. 'Palimpsest' being my inspiration. I wanted to take his idea and use it within the context of photography... the new narrative over the old.

I have uploaded the whole set here, so please take a peek, but my favourites...