Painting orchids

Posted on August 23, 2019August 23, 2019 by carlotta

Painting orchids

I am guessing you know by now that I am exhibiting a series of portraits as part of the Lewes Artwave Festival. The show will be open for another two weekends. I am showing photographs commissioned by the Lewes District Council highlighting the people who make the area so special. One of these is Kelly Hall, a talented artist and designer who’s artwork celebrates the great Sussex landscape and beyond. I photographed her in the famous McBean’s Nursery near Lewes where they have been growing orchids for the past 140 years.

You can find my show at 2 Fisher Street, Lewes, BN7 2DG. The gallery will be open Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 10-2 until 1 September. More information about the exhibit can be found on the Artwave website here.

More of my portraits can be found here, and working portraits here.

Please get in touch if you have an event, a celebration or a portrait you would like to have photographed or a building project documented.

Artwave exhibit opening tomorrow!

Posted on August 16, 2019 by carlotta

Artwave exhibit opening tomorrow!

As I mentioned last week, I have an exhibit of portraits opening tomorrow as part of the Lewes Artwave Festival. I will be showing photographs from a project I am working on for the Lewes District Council, highlighting the interesting people who live and work in the area. The gallery address is 2 Fisher Street, Lewes, BN7 2DG. The gallery will be open Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 10-2, 18 August to 1 September. More information about the show can be found on the Artwave website here.

This portrait of Chloe Edwards is one of the photographs on show in my exhibit. Chloe runs the catering company Seven Sisters Spices and is a familiar sight around Lewes with her beautifully decorated pram filled with homemade spices, dukkahs, pickles and chutneys. You can find her at the Market Tower on Friday mornings and at the Saturday farmer’s market in Lewes precinct. I know from personal experience that her food is delicious and her cooking classes are inspiring. More of my portraits can be found here, and working portraits here.

The Glyndebourne prop maker

Posted on August 9, 2019 by carlotta

The Glyndebourne prop maker

A few weeks ago I told you about a new series of portraits I have been working on for the Lewes District Council, highlighting the diverse people who live and work in the district. An exhibit of this project will be on display during the Lewes Artwave Festival (details below).

This portrait of Rose Beale is my latest in the series. As well as being a talented sculptor, Rose has been working as a prop maker at the world-famous Glyndebourne Opera House for over 30 years. She wanted to be photographed with one of her favourite props, a mask from a recent production of The Barber of Seville.

I was lucky with the soft light falling across Rose’s face, the simple palette of nearly only beiges and blues, and that beautiful bull with his curved black horns. More of my portraits can be found here, and working portraits here.

My exhibit can be found at Artwave venue 97, 7 Fisher Street, Lewes, BN7 2DG. The gallery will be open Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 10-2, 18 August to 1 September.

Please get in touch if you have an event, a celebration or a portrait you would like to have photographed or a building project documented.

New portraiture

Posted on June 5, 2019 by carlotta

New portraiture

I have been working for the Lewes District Council on a series of portraits of people who live and work in the District. The aim is to show the diversity of the area, focussing on people who lead interesting or unusual lives. What fun for me, then, to track down possible subjects and photograph them in their surroundings.

I have set up a new gallery on my website specifically for environmental portraits. You can find them all here.

This is Ruth Rose. She leads a group of year-round swimmers called the Seaford Mermaids who swim from the beach 365 days a year, no matter the weather.

Ruth is 86 and claims her exceptional good health is due to her passion for the cold water sea bathing she has been doing for years.

Please get in touch if you have an event, a celebration or a portrait you would like to have photographed.

Blessing the boat

Posted on May 3, 2019May 3, 2019 by carlotta

Blessing the boat

You may remember that the Lewes Pilot Gig Club featured in my photo of the week a couple of months ago. At the time, the club was using a rented boat while saving money to buy their own. Enough money finally accrued and the boat was duly delivered to a group of very happy rowers. A ceremony was organised to bless the new vessel on the auspicious day of Good Friday, Moon Beltane and the full moon. Priestess Melissa Corkhill performed the ceremony with specially collected water that each club member used to anoint the gig while casting their wishes for the future of it and the club.

The event began with the Skull Drummery Bonfire drummers, followed by the blowing of a conch shell and finished up with the rousing singing of sea shanties. As one of the club members (who doesn’t live in Lewes) said to me, you just can’t get more Lewes than that. More photos of the boat naming ceremony and other celebrations can be found here. More photos of gig rowing can be found here.

Please get in touch if you have an event, a celebration – or even a boat blessing – that you would like to have photographed.

The carousel that made people happy

Posted on April 11, 2019April 11, 2019 by carlotta

The carousel that made people happy

Once upon a time there was an amusement park on the edge of a beautiful lake where people came to be happy. They arrived from far and wide to ride the roller coaster and fly in the space rockets. They loved getting scared in the Laff in the Dark, laughing with Laffing Beulah and having their fortune read by the gypsy Esmeralda.

At the very centre of the park the best of all the rides was a carousel of beautiful horses that rode round and round to the sound of the Wurlitzer organ. The horses wore flowers and feathers and armour, their manes flew and their nostrils flared as they pranced and jumped.

The man who owned the park had a daughter. This little girl loved being at the park and going on the rides that made people happy. Most of all she loved the carousel. Every day she visited her favourite horse, the one with the golden rosette and flowers on her blue harness, and rode her to the sound of the organ music.

After many years the park closed its gates and the rides that made people happy were shut down. All except the carousel, which was placed in a city park where it continued to be ridden and to make people happy.

Many, many years later, when the little girl had become an old woman, her daughter took her to see the carousel and ride on her favourite horse. The carousel did its job once more and made them both very happy.

My mother’s family owned Meyers Lake Park in Canton, Ohio, for over 50 years. When the park closed in 1974, the historic Stein and Goldstein carousel was moved to Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut, where it continues to be ridden by generations of children and adults. My mother had not seen the carousel for 40 years when we went to visit it last week. You can see more photos of this beautiful carousel here and find more information about Bushnell Park here.

Category: people and portraits