Velvet Goldmine

Once again, I'm going back to my usual boring stories of how I love meeting people as a part of my job. Sometimes people come and go, and then there are other moments where your brain is just like "Woah, stop everything. Stop. This person is AWESOME!" This was my reaction upon meeting Jasmine Alexander, amazing mistress of precious metals and dazzling jewels.

I was asked to shoot her for Diva Magazine a year or so ago. It was my first commissioned portrait by them, so was suitably nervous already. And the more research I did, the more in awe of her work I became. I was utterly terrified by the time it came to meet her, which lasted all of thirty seconds once she was inside my studio. A mass of curles sat on top of a face I'd come to know as jetlagged and excited - both which seem to work in tandem as her default setting.

We ended up shooting this:

Diva, December 2010 Issue.

We also got an amazing portrait of her partner in crime, Casper. Easily the cutest creature to ever drool in front of my lens.

The photo felt like a turning point somehow, as it went from being my first proper request from a magazine, to appearing in bits and pieces of high-brow press such as L'Officiel Russia and later, the L'Officiel Paris website.

The end of Summer brought with it some exciting news, and I found myself shooting a new portrait in her Old Street studio. The image was to accompany a piece amongst the prestegious pages of La Monde, and we were both dying to tell everyone what was going on.

The chosen shot combined a rock and roll spirit , showcasing both her work and the person behind the work perfectly.