A few months ago I was invited to be the documentary photographer for a huge event at
The National Portrait Gallery, that was being curated by the wonderful women at
All Walks - namely
Debra Bourne,
Caryn Franklin and
Erin O'Connor. At the time it was still in the planning stages, but time flew by and before I knew it the day had arrived. I was the only photographer who was officially allowed to document the entire event, apart from some photo calls, the rest was all down to me - a roaming one woman camera toter sweating my way through three huge floors of gorgeousness!
If you are not aware (and you should be - I jest, but really, you should be) of who
All Walks Beyond The Catwalk are I will explain a little. Set up in 2009 they are an initiative focused on changing the attitude and face of the fashion industry, to put it in a nutshell there needs to be a more realistic interpretation and representation of women in fashion media - be it race, size or age, there is currently little diversity, but All Walks are trying, and successfully so, to change this.
The event at the Portrait Gallery was somewhat a showcase to bring about awareness - in true All Walks spirit it was open to the public, everyone being welcome to see and enjoy what was on offer.
Rankin, a personally inspiring photographer, unveiled nine (beautiful) images that he had taken exclusively for All Walks, which were displayed around the gallery on the Rankin trail, juxtaposed next to old masters and varying degrees of perceptions of female beauty through the ages. They portray wildly beautiful women of all colours and ages - one of my favourites being
Valerie Pain who I had a little chat with, what a wonderful person she is, how I would love to do a real shoot with her, such a gorgeous woman!
Also,
i-D had a pop-up studio set up with photographer Alistair Guy (nice bloke!), with members of the public queuing to have their portrait taken by him - which was great, such a buzz everyone was so excited. Josephine Chime had a brilliant installation for Vogue - like a seaside head-through-the-hole attraction, loved it.
All in all the night was a great success, with the All Walks founders and the likes of
Lorraine Candy and
Linda Papadopoulos joining a packed out debate in the lecture theatre, there was a lot to talk about.
I had a really great time and am so honoured to have been a part of it, below are some of my shots from the night, I hope you enjoy and here's to more great success to my favourite ladies at All Walks, keep it up!
