I don’t know the chaps name. He often turns up at 1940s re-enactments as a Greengrass-type character (from the TV series Heartbeat). I asked him for a photo and found an angle where the lighting brought out the texture in his face and where the backdrop wasn’t too intrusive. A little Photoshop work brought out more detail in his face.
Fiona was the singer at a Rushden Transport Museum 1940s Weekend. I asked to take a few shots and suggested a few poses. I created a sepia image and added some handwriting-like text to the bottom to create a kind of ‘forces sweetheart’ image that the troops might have carried around in their pockets.
I wanted to call this ‘Fast Freddie – the Bookies Favourite’. I don’t know why – he just seems the sort of chap to enjoy a quiet cig, a pint, and a little something on the horses. Rushden Transport Museum 1940s Weekend.
I originally called this The Gurney Man. It was taken as a mediaeval receation event at Ely and ‘Smithy’ was actually working there as a blacksmith hence the title.
This is an early studio shot where I was trying to create something a little different. Neil was often unshaven and I had this idea of peering out of a jail window. I then evolved it into him trying to look out of a print mount. It was a bit of fun to do.
I liked the expression on the face of this old soldier. The backdrop is the American War Cemetry at Madingley.
I used to work with Stan Samalionis and this was one of his natural poses that prompted me to ask him into the studio. He loves this shot. It was taken on medium format and printed on fibre paper in the darkroom. The hand was burnt in a little since it was closer to the light source than the face and caught the light a little more.
This was taken at a mediaeval recreation event at Ely in 2005. Edwin was the father of one of the combatants and sat in one of the tents in the encampment. I chatted to Edwin for a while taking a few photographs as I went. This one worked particularly well.
Charles Rush was an artist with a great sense of humour. He kindly modelled for me a number of years ago. This image was actually shot on 35mm film (FP4) and was one of my early successful images. Sadly, Charles is no longer with us.