Portrait of an artist

Posted on March 18, 2022 by carlotta

Portrait of an artist

I apologise for my long period of silence. A lot has happened in my life since my last photo of the week in December. The most significant of these is that my mother, Ellen Sinclair Junger, died on Christmas Day, after suffering from dementia for many years.

Ellen was a very talented painter. This is my portrait of her taken in her studio in the early 1980s. Ellen always had a large mirror in her studio. It was an integral part of her painting process as she used it to analyse her compositions in reverse.

This was part of a series of portraits of artists in the Boston area that I took for my high school photography class. That project was the beginning of my interest in photographing people in their work environments, a subject that I continue to focus on 40 years later. You can find a selection of them here and here.

I’ve been busy framing my cyanotype landscapes recently. They will be shown at Tigermoth Coffee Roasters in Lewes in a few weeks. It has been a lovely little project to focus on during this strange limbo time I’ve been in. The show runs from 4-25 April. If you are in the area, please do stop by, and be sure to get a coffee while you are there. It is definitely the best coffee in town.

I have finally set up a shop page on my website. You can check it out here. You will find my books and cards here, as well as a few cyanotypes. I have a large collection of cyanotypes at my studio, many more then are on my website, so get in touch if you would like more information.

Please contact me if you have a workplace, an event, a celebration, a portrait or a building project you would like to have photographed.

Playing in the snow

Posted on January 21, 2021January 22, 2021 by carlotta

Playing in the snow

I hope you are all staying well and sane during these difficult times. To lighten the mood, I thought I would share with you a band promo shot from a few years back – well, eight to be exact. This was not how I had expected the shoot with Small Shipwrecks to go, but snow was falling and we couldn’t resist the temptation to be in it.

Outside was just gorgeous, made more special by the fact that it is so rare for us to get snow in Lewes. I am a New England gal and I do miss the cold white winters of my youth. Once we had set up outside, everyone relaxed into the novelty and joy of playing music in falling snow, and I got my shot. You can find more of my portraiture here.

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.

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.

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.

Tag: portraits