In the City of Blinding Lights

I have been so excited about posting these images!

As my Barcelona Fetish Weekend article is still pending, I can’t say anything about that yet, but I’ve been dying to tell you about this shoot… 😀

I did a photoshoot in London on Wednesday evening, gone out for yummy dinner with a friend then slept in Gatwick Airport (with it’s evil Ben and Jerry’s machines) before getting a 6am flight to Barcelona and going straight to a photoshoot with the fantastic Rares Pulbere.
He’d already sent me a link to the location beforehand- Parc Labyrinth. It’s just outside the tourist radar so when I came to Barcelona on holiday, I had no idea it existed. It is incredible- it’s main feature being a labyrinth with a statue of Eros in the centre, but actually the entire park resembles a maze- with hidden places, fountains and statues everywhere!
I wouldn’t have been able to decide where to shoot as there were so many places, but we started here:

I was looking at a heron that was clearly waiting for the annoying naked lady to leave so it could catch a fish from the pond! (I really need to work on my language-learning skills. It was hilarious trying to explain a heron to Rares as obviously that isn’t the Spanish word. He spoke Romanian, Spanish *and* English! Puts me to shame…)

This one’s probably one of my favourites from the bunch! It was just opposite the location above and the heron was still there!

Byebye heron- we’ll leave you in peace now. 😉
So we moved on to a more garden-y place…

There were huge sculptural pots full of flowers surrounding the little shelter at the top! I’d already clocked the wisteria and got ridiculously over-excited at the prospect of posing with it (it’s one of my favourite flowers). I was tiptoe-ing about, trying not to disturb the purple-coloured carpet at my feet- or the bees humming around my shoulders (you’re very cute and fuzzy, bees but please don’t land on me- I’m allergic to you.)
This was probably one of my most favourite places in the park- so peaceful, pretty and fragrant!

The main labyrinth had a few people in it, but we decided we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shoot there..

I’ve just stepped into the centre, by the statue of Eros. Not entirely sure which Goddess I was thinking about while I was posing here but I remember running Greek myths through my head so there must have been one on my mind, lol! 🙂

We headed to our next location… Parc Guell(!!!) and set the camera up as the sun set. It was here that I got the inspiration for the title of this post- I had that U2 song in my head the entire time I was shooting! It really was magical watching the little green parakeets flit about as the sun set, knowing where I would be posing as soon as the light was right. (Though I think we disturbed a romantic couple having a candlelit moment in the next alcove..!) While the “reflection” shot is my favourite of the bunch, this one is probably going to make me a happy lady for years.

The tower to the right and the building above my head were designed by architect Gaudi. Follow my hand straight up, you’ll see the spires of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral- another pretty by Gaudi.

I was exhausted by the time we finished, but we went for some food and I really don’t remember anything of the night as I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow!!!

Let me know which pictures you like best, as it’s website-updating time!

ROSWELL xxx

Zen in the sand, and a mutant tree.

It’s the title of my novel!

…

Ok, not really. 😉

As I’ve said, Norfolk is full of amazing places to shoot in- one place being Holkham Bay. There’s a pine forest (with the strangest trees), a marshland (with deer, rabbits and birds), and a huge beach (with enormous sand dunes and colourful beach huts). There are also seals but I haven’t seen any yet… Have you seen “Shakespeare in Love”? I couldn’t find the clip on Youtube, but the end scene where Gwyneth Paltrow is walking away was filmed there.
Photographers Wayne Kahn and Latent Lure stopped by for a visit and I took them on the Holkham Bay tour. Shooting was hilarious, as we were attacked by falling pine cones! Every few seconds there would be a THUMP on the ground a few inches from us! I think I was the safest as I was actually *in* the tree.

Wayne is editing his images so here are the ones from Latent Lure:
(the tree has not been photoshopped- it really did look like that).

They were shot with a fish-eye lens which slightly distorts the background, and several photos were taken of the same pose so they could be merged together (can’t get more technical than that- sorry!) creating the effect shown.

I’m currently in Paris doing some very exciting things (…) and next, you will get to see some of my nude photos from the most beautiful places in Barcelona!

Though I like the freedom and challenge of posing nude, I have spent the past few weeks almost exclusively in the nude and would love to put some clothes on! If anyone would like to do some clothed photos with me, get in touch as I can provide custom-made, one-off outfits!
I currently have leather, vintage gold brocade, cherry red PVC, lingerie and some gorgeous intricate lace. Lots more material in my sewing chest. Place your order and set your date!
ROSWELL xxx

I see rude people. (A rant)

Please forgive me for hiding under a blanket, but I have something worrying to tell you:
I see rude people.

They’re walking around like regular people. They don’t know they’re rude. They’re everywhere…

And right now, my mood is summed up by the words “stabbity”, “stab” and “stab”!!! >:(((((
In the past few days, I have had the misfortune to encounter these assets to society:

#1- Etiquette for the new generation
I am a 6-foot tall person trapped in a 5-foot-7 person’s body, so these are my everyday shoes:

I understand that they attract more than a few glances (and outright stares), and they are sometimes a good conversation-starter (weirdly it’s almost always children and little old ladies who like them!) but this was something else:
I was looking at the pretty gardens at the Eden Project (that’s another post), when a man walked up next to me with two young children and extended his index finger…
“Hey, hey kids! Look at that woman’s shoes! Aren’t they strange- she’s so tall in them. They’re like stilts! Maybe she keeps her lunch in them.”
It was at this point in my speechless dumbfounded fog that remembered I have a voice:
“Excuse me, maybe her father taught her that it’s rude to point at total strangers!”
He gave a nervous giggle and backed off, saying to his children “I don’t think she liked me talking about her shoes”
No, fool man!!! I have no problem discussing my attire but I don’t like being talked about as if I’m an exhibit in a zoo! Sadly by the time the above sentence had taken shape in my brain, he had rapidly turned a corner and I was left with some dust and the refrains of his children singing “poo-poo-poo-poo…..”

#2 They loiter in woodlands…
I was booked for an art-nude photoshoot here:

Isn’t it pretty??
I was posing, pretending to be a dryad while watching the deer on the other side of a little fence- and occasionally making a mad dash for my phone so I could take pictures of the buzzards and red kites circling overhead. When it was lunchtime, I dressed and dived head-first into my sandwich bag, oblivious to the outside world… until I heard the words “you don’t have to. She’ll be fine”. The photographer (who was very nice), was talking to a man by the fence and both were now walking toward me holding cameras.
Strange man, trousers up to his armpits: Hi there, I just wanted to apologise for interrupting your shoot.
Me: No problem.
SM,TUTHA: I couldn’t possibly… *waves camera*
Me: (looking at camera) I’m really sorry- I’m working today but here’s my business card. You can book your own shoot with me.
SM, TUTHA: Oh please? Just a close-up?
Photographer: Not appropriate!
Me: *assuming he means “just a quick headshot against a tree”* Sorrry, no.
SM, TUTHA: *starts to walk away, then comes back* Pretty pretty please? Just a little close-up?
Me/Photographer: NO!!!

It turns out I was wrong. He wasn’t holding a camera- he was holding binoculars. The “little close-up” he wanted was of my BOOBS!!!
He has my business card…
Which links to my website…
Which links to my blog.

Dear rude creepy man channelling Simon Cowell, you are lucky I took your binoculars for a camera. Had I realised what you were really after, you would have lost an arm.

#3 Of mice and morons…
I wanted to call this one “pig”, but an old friend’s voice is echoing in my head: “pigs are intelligent and sensitive creatures- and you’re insulting them!”
On my first day off modelling in a while, I went to bounce around the New-Age shop. I was choosing incense when I heard a gasp from around the side, where there are replicas of neolithic deities and Sheela-na-Gigs. I guessed this was the source of the customer’s horror. Nope- earwigging on the conversation, the source of the outrage was a tarot set (not pornographic, just aimed at gay people).
The… creature… stormed out of the door amid a loud and obvious rant about “tarot sets for queens” (sadly, I can’t convey online the way in which the last word was spat but I assure you a king cobra has less venom.)

I have come across misguided religious people before, but this was something else. Maybe the gentleman doth protest too much? I don’t know- but as a bisexual woman, homophobia makes me SO angry and when I’m angry, tears of rage come like a very embarrassing tidal wave. Thanks to my friends for their concern and especially to Anita for taking care of me.
At least the encounter has given me the kick up the butt I needed to get reviewing the film “Milk” for a magazine.

A conversation in the shop concluded that the man’s karmic retribution should be a rebirth in the form of one of those tiny mice farmed to be killed and fed to pet boa-constrictors. 😀
____________________________________________

As an antidote to all the rudeness, I have some photos from Barcelona Fetish Weekend, which was a fantastic event, full of lovely friendly people. I don’t think I heard any nastiness in the whole three days! These photos are by Jesus Sevilla, featuring the lovely dress HMSlatex lent me for the occasion!
Hair/Make-up by me.

ROSWELL xxx

When the Veil thins…

… things start to happen.

Happy belated Beltane to everyone (aka May Day)! It’s my favourite festival- said to be one of two times each year when the veil between the worlds raises. As a fantasy writer, you can probably guess how much I like this idea and this year, I had the good fortune to be driving along a tiny winding road in a Cornish valley, surrounded by mossy boulders and wildflowers for most of the day! (The photos below are not from Cornwall though, but from just down the road from me- and I’ve been saving them for a while…)

For anyone not interested in a mythology lesson, do let your attention wander freely and look at the pretty pictures instead. 😉

Bad jokes about “fen-folk” aside, Norfolk has some of the most amazing hidden places. This was a deconsecrated church without a roof, covered in ivy, surrounded by daffodils and with an enormous tree growing in the middle!

Anyway, Beltane and faerie stuff…
The name literally means “bright fire” and it’s traditionally a fertility festival. (As I have no intention to ever unleash mini Roswells, I’ll interpret this as “fertility of imagination”). 😉

Here’s what the goofy fun-loving Puritans had to say: “If tenne maidens were to set May, nine of them came home gotten with childe!”) They of course tried to ban the celebrations, and the dancing around the Maypole* thing. Well, any dancing or celebrating, really!
* I think it was the whole “phallic symbol” issue that offended them.

At this time, people would make pilgrimages to sacred sites, gather flowers and watch the sunrise (often after a “Greenwood marriage”- see the quote above for the meaning of that!)

Many Beltane celebrations involve traditional characters: the Green Man (someone painted green and adorned with leaves and vines), his lover the May Queen (a young woman in white, wearing flowers), the fool (a man on a hobby horse) and red men (mischief-makers running around stealing your hat!)

It was said that waking to wash yourself in the dew on May morning would keep you young and beautiful forever! But staying up all night made vision a little  hazy at sunrise…
Can you see anything?

In early folklore, the people of the Other world were said to be most active at this time, and that it was dangerous to make your presence known (unless you wanted to spend the rest of your life as a tree or rock!) But the boundary between this world and the other is sometimes hard to define- especially when coming across naked flower-adorned ladies dancing in the woodland wasn’t that unusual!

At dusk on May 1st, celebrations died down, the veil dropped again and people went about their lives, except for those foolish enough to have eaten faerie food and now trapped in the Other world dreaming of the sun…

The Other world is said to be divided into two “courts” ruled by capricious queens, continually tricking each other and grasping for the upper hand. Neither is “good” or “bad”- they are as mischievous as each other!  The Seelie (aka light) Court rules the festival of Beltane. In exactly six months time- on the dark side of the year (October 31st), strange things begin to happen again as the Unseelie (dark) Court rules Halloween…

……….. 🙂

I didn’t actually wait for this time to post the photos- it just happened that I finished my backlog and this set worked so well with the legends!
Ellen Rogers, the photographer, called this set “Cacosa”, after the story “An Inhabitant of Cacosa”, in which the fictional (now destroyed) city is described by a character who once lived there.

I got talking to Ellen online and found her style of work unique and thought-provoking. Each set on her website is inspired by some story- whether her own life experiences, or someone else’s work of fiction. As you can imagine, we got very into swapping “OMG you must read this” stories. Love the way our photos turned out- it was very exciting waiting for them as she shoots on film so we couldn’t just look into the back of the camera!

I have no idea what my next post will be about so must end this one on a word of warning:
Cornish Ramblers: beware of pixies… and nude models. They are watching you. 😛

ROSWELL xxx