A portrait of my late ex-wife, Jean Ottey-Hemmings. It was painted in acrylics with just two colours: ultramarine and titanium white.
A sage looking bearded face, nearly obscured by moss. This was taken in Stapenhill Gardens in Burton-upon-Trent, in the late 1990s.
A narrow depth of field and the use of Iford XP2 film, gave this picture of Kassie and Harriet its distinctive look. XP2 film was a monochrome film designed to be developed in colour processing labs (unless you did it yourself, black and white film processing was more expensive than colour). The pictures would always have a tint to them: you were never sure either what colour that tint would be or how pronounced it would be. Rather than seeing this as a disadvantage, I loved this unpredictability.
I love the slightly silvery quality to Martin’s skin, caused by the light raking over the down on the side of his face. This is one of those happy creative accidents, that I can’t really take credit for.
I really enjoyed black and white photography for a while. This image could never be as strong with colour.
A picture of my three eldest children and their friend, Kassie. At the front, left to right: Kassie, Harriet, Rosa. At the back: Martin. If it is a harmonious picture, the sound they were making certainly was not.