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FITTING RIGHT INTO WHITE SQUARE

‘Bring stuff that makes you YOU’ was the basic instruction from London based Italian Photographers, Emanuela Franchini and Cristina Cocullo. My ‘stuff’ got a little complicated so I filled a suitcase on wheels to avoid having to choose which outfits from my past best described me. As I dragged my wheely bag through the London Underground I wished that I didn’t have so many heavy facets to my ego. Why couldn’t I have travelled light throughout my life and been a little more bland….more vanilla?

The older I get the more I can see that my face goes around more corners than I had before. In the morning it takes roughly about 30 minutes to unfold from ‘pillow face’ syndrome. So the offer of a photo shoot from these two innovative and eclectic visionaries in the London photographic world was a tad daunting. My first response went along the lines of ‘can we hold off until I lose 14lbs?’ I had up to this point managed to avoid appearing in any photographs by developing a deft duck and dive technique that I had honed to perfection – a perfect technique to mask imperfections, you might say. It took 12 months and I did shed that 14lbs and with it, came the promise of a shoot.

My stomach churned up to the very day and I stood blinking inanely into my bathroom mirror on that very morning with one burning question. How was I going to cover up my black eye and swollen cheek? Swiftly followed by the thought that this was, in fact, the mother of all excuses. Root canal treatment the previous day had wreaked carnage, blackened my eye and made me look like I had gone a few rounds in the boxing ring with Rocky Marciano. Undeterred by the challenge of making me appear like a grown-up who hadn’t elected for dental surgery on the eve of a shoot, the photographer’s reply was ‘Excellent! This should make things much more interesting.’

Eman and Cristina work in tandem as White Square Photography. I knew their photographic work to be edgy and provocative. If I was looking for a normal corporate interpretation of myself then I had come to the wrong place.

Genoa born, Emanuela delights in her visual creativity, spending time with nascent ideas and forming them into quirky concepts. Not only do her shots make you look twice but they also force you into deconstruction whether you like it or not. The Strokes loved one of her shots so much that they asked if they could feature ‘Cheap 70’s Porn’ on the homepage of their website. Award winning Cristina’s shots are technically brilliant, often landscapes and detritus involving dolls and religious icons. She seems to have the ability to bend light in abstract and fantastic ways. I was in good hands and desperate not to disappoint

My vision was of a retro Roxy Music LP cover. Reality was more Chas N Dave in fishnets as my crap came tumbling out of the suitcase. Music CD’s, backstage passes, a biker jacket; a War and Peace sized PR book and some things of nostalgic value – a sequined top my deceased aunt gave me and a vintage 1984 Daryl Hall & John Oates Rock n Soul T-shirt; not to mention enough make-up to sink a battleship (well I need it!) and a saucy little number that I had commissioned from Veritas, the Gothic clothing store, at the height of my ‘Interview with a Vampire’ era.

Some ideas started flowing and we lit some candles flouting all Health and Safety regulations, which I held devilishly close to an inflammable backdrop. Dangerous but wildly playful! The next shots involved a hammer, impossible heels and a pile of CD’s. Alright, now you’re talking! I was giving it my best Gisele. A small voice in my mind was telling me that Gisele was over-reaching. But who cares! There’s always the delete button! Oh yes, I could get used to this I thought as I stepped into the sumptuous bathtub with my clothes on to be showered with….not water….but paper, yes paper – lots of it. Music flyers. Colourful pieces of promotion designed by bands and graphic designers were thrown into the tub with the laptop and me. Oh we laughed! I thought, we won’t be laughing if that tap drips onto this laptop. That would be ‘game over’.

And onto the final shoot on the bed. When I walked in the door with my vintage ocelot jacket the final shoot was done and dusted. The light was poor and the ceiling sloped so the girls were struggling to gain perfection. In a moment of exhaustion I lay down. ‘Stay there!’ they shouted as they embarked upon probably my most comfortable shoot of the day. I got to lie down. Not a bad thing.

My stomach lurched as we sat in the lounge poised to view the fruits of our wacky labour. The only caveat when we started out was not to view any images throughout the course of the day. My finger would inevitably be poised over the delete button and the girls would get nowhere. Here’s what I learned as we viewed the images; the camera will pick up nervousness and shyness and, well, I should never be photographed from behind. It was clear to us that the more the day went on, the less stressed I became, producing more natural shots.

I think everyone should take a shot at exploring their fun side through photography. Whilst I may not be asked to grace the homepage of The Strokes website, I have about 80 great image choices for my Facebook and other pages that make me look far more interesting than I truly am!