The boats are Merlin Rockets and are sailing in the Kingsbridge Estuary outside the Yacht Club in Salcombe just before one of the daily races that take place in July. I made this into a pastel image with ink outlines to give a more painterly look.
This was at the Rushden 1940s event and this lady was dressed splendidly. She boarded the train for refreshments (the train doesn’t go too far on that line) and when she wandered along the corridor to get off, she passed by this open window at one of the doors and I asked for a photo (I was on the platform). She kindly obliged and offered several poses. This one worked particularly well.
Another 1940s day on the North Norfolk Railway (Poppy Line). This lady seemed to be a regular at such events and styles herself as a kind of Marilyn Monroe look-alike (the era is actually wrong for MM but we can forgive this). This was taken outside the ticket office but the lighting was very poor and created shadows on her face. A fair bit of work was needed in Photoshop to correct the lighting defects.
With Laëtitia, I wanted a 1920s look. She had the clothes and we found the props. A little work was needed in Photoshop to give the muted colours of a hand-tinted print.
Taken in Baker Street at Pride London in 2009. He only held that expression for an instant but it was long enough. The guy in the background nicely fills the corner with a similar look but toned and a little softer so it doesn’t impact too much on the foreground figure.
After seeing the Taj Mahal, we went to Agra Fort where there was a good view of the Taj being highlighted by the sun shining on the white marble against a somewhat stormy sky. A girl appeared and was photographed by her family. I took her photograph too. Unfortunately, she was in shade and the focus was on her and so the Taj was overexposed and out of focus. Naturally, Photoshop came to the rescue and I combined two images to make this composite.
Otherwise known as Jal Mahal (“Water Palace”), this palace appears to float on the waters of Man Sagar Lake, just north of Jaipur. The lake was created in the 16th century after the construction of a dam to preserve drinking water. Jal Mahal was built in 1799 by Maharaja Madho Singh as a retreat for the royalty and was frequently used for their duck hunting parties!
On returning from the Amber Fort to Jaipur, we stopped off to view the Summer Palace in the middle of Man Sagar Lake. There is a bus stop here and it is a popular tourist spot to take photographs of the abandoned palace. It’s probably why these girls were here – they knew tourists would like to photograph them in return for a few rupees.
These are the steps leading up to the tomb. I wasn’t tempted to shoot the steps until the lady arrived and sat at the bottom. Unfortunately, there were one or two tourists at the top of the steps so I waited until they moved on. I changed to a wide-angle lens so I could include her in the scene without her being aware of me photographing her. She seemed to be suffering from the heat (it was 38 degrees that day) and so she took out a handkerchief to mop her brow. That was the moment to take the shot. It almost seems as if she is weeping at the tomb.