Dress design by Emily Thorpe

This dress is inspired by Sea Shells. There is quite detailed retouching in this shot. The blue skirt is a drape. We spent several minutes making sure the drape looked perfect around her. I used a wind fan to really give the effect of being on a shoreline as it is windy near the sea. With the flash combined with slow shutter speed this created a beautiful soft image. I can imagine she is there on the shoreline at sunset. This dress and model made me think of a greek goddess.

Tame Nature

The study of the juxtaposition between nature and mankind in rural Surrey and London suburbs. Everywhere humans are surrounded by trees, grass and plants. Somehow while we escape from the nature and wilderness, we also need to have a part of it. But it is an 'unnatural nature'. Gardens are adorned with ornaments, are cultivated and pruned or sometimes left to their own devices to grow bushy hedges. Parks are public places where we can go to be surrounded by 'nature' but really it is false, that the place is cultivated and prepared to look a certain way. Somehow as humans we redevelop places that were set aside as building projects into faux natural places.

I shot the project with 120 6x6 film and scanned with a hasselblad flextight. I left the imperfections in the film, scratches and dust etc. I put my own human idiosyncrasies into the film, the surface has served as my garden with which to place my ideas. I put the things I want to see and surround myself with. This project became a way of making my own park or garden really.