Stephanie Rushton photo shoot - Part 1 (of 3)

Looking at the backlog of things I have not posted so far (and there is much of it) I am astonished how many of them are photographs of … me! (surprise surprise) - either specific photo shoots or at events I have attended. So, at risk of a surfeit of self, I am going to stagger them over the next few months (chronologically).

Let’s go all the way back to last August (25th) - 2009. I had been approached - probably via the Eccentric Club - by a professional photographer, Stephanie Rushton.
[ http://www.stephanierushton.com/index.html ]

We chatted for a while, she had already taken photographs of some friends of mine - the blogger and musician Winston Chesterfield and “fellow eccentric” Lyndon Yorke - and they both had good shoots with her - so I felt a comfort zone there. She said she was putting together a project “English Eccentrics” and, as I never allow people to photograph me ‘at home’, I suggested the local (and recently restored) Valentines Mansion, a Georgian pile just down the road at Gants Hill.
[  http://www.valentines.org.uk/  and http://www.valentinesmansion.com/ ], see also my previous posting on the reopening of the Mansion on February 14th 2009 [ http://rayfrenshamworld.blogspot.com/2009/02/valentines-mansion-reopens.html ]

The weather was rather splendid for most of the day (a little darkening in the sky, which you will see in the second posting of these 3) and we decided on three different “looks” [not ‘outfits’ and Definitely Not ‘costumes’!]. What follows is just a mere smattering of the first lot of photos that were taken.

I do urge you to visit Steph’s site, she is a rather splendid photographer with a fantastic ‘eye’

http://www.stephanierushton.com/eccentrics.html
As you can see, we started out in the gardens of the Mansion - the walled Old English Garden, to be precise. I have to say, we were both impressed at the splendid and authentic restoration job that had been performed on the Mansion (luckily funded and finished before the credit problems hit this country - and the Borough).

Looking at my clothes for this part of the shoot, I was wearing my single-breasted black barathea frock coat (part of a suit) but with striped trousers. The waistcoat was my (newly finished) red Chinese silk ten-button double-breasted one. Notice the buttons - black - this is the only time you will see these as the deadline for the shoot meant that my tailor (Ayres, who made this creation) did not have the time to cover the buttons in the same fabric so we went with black silk as a stop-gap! (And just wait till you see the back of this magnificent creation!).

[A slightly cropped and "adjusted" version of Stephanie's photograph, done by my pal Brad in the USA, giving me a wrap-around collar.... something which I crave and are simply impossible to find these days!]

[P.S.: This secret link leads to the full selection of the entire photo-shoot, should you care to explore:
http://gallery.me.com/stephrushton/100522 ]. I shall post up Part 2 of this three-parter next week!

For the record, Winston’s blogsite is:http://venividivrai.blogspot.com/
…and Lyndon’s website is:http://www.lyndonsmachines.co.uk/