Beth Fouracre at the Mill Sessions

The 2nd of this year’s Mill Sessions was on Thursday past, this time featuring singer-songwriter, Beth Fouracre. As before, a bit of time was set aside for me to take her portrait to build up images for The Mill, and my own portfolio.

Although she was a bit uncertain to begin with, it didn’t take long for her to relax and quite quickly she connected with the camera.



Unlike Sean Taylor’s request for Dark and Moody (see Sean Taylor and The Mill Sessions), Beth wanted a slightly lighter mood.



In fact, I have a whole folder full of blurred images where she found it impossible to keep a straight face and collapsed into laughter.

I’d decided the “house style” for the Mill Sessions would be black and white with a hint (18%) of sepia overlay. However, I have to say on only the 2nd photo shoot I found myself quite torn. What doesn’t come out in black and white is the fact Beth had vivid red hair, which really was quite wonderful.

Eventually I decided I would stick to my original idea, but here’s one to show you what I mean.



Until the evenings get lighter, I'm limited with the space and lighting I can use for these photo sessions. I have to bring along one of my lights and a reflector and I can use a room in the Mill that's currently empty, but only until it opens up again for the tourist season.


Light with umbrella diffuser - Beth - reflector, side on

As usual, click on any of the images for larger versions.

For those interested in her music, and Beth really does have a lovely voice, then you can hear some of here songs on MySpace, here:
http://www.myspace.com/bethfouracre/music

Sean Taylor and the Mill Sessions

As well as hosting my Staring Back exhibition, last year the Mill on the Fleet (in the nearby town of Gatehouse of Fleet) trialled the idea of becoming a venue for small, acoustic performances by local and up and coming artists, using the space in one of its galleries. It went well and plans to have monthly sessions are now underway, collectively known as The Mill Sessions.

In a similar vein to my arrangement with The Bakehouse (see last post), I will now be taking photos of guest artists prior to their performances to build up a “hall of fame” collection.

On Saturday, fresh from his concert at Celtic Connections and interview on the Bob Harris Radio 2 show, was Sean Taylor, an amazing bluesy singer and guitarist. His live performance at the Mill was superb.

A day or 2 before he came down I spoke to him on the phone to see if there was a particular style he fancied when we did the photo session. “Dark and moody” was his instant reply. This suited me fine – I like dark and moody.

As usual, click on any of the images for larger versions







You can hear songs from his album, Walk With Me, on his website. My personal favourite is “Hold On”