A walk on the Heath...

The weather took a turn for the better last night and I went for a walk on Hampstead Heath to clear my head after staying holed up all day shying away from the damp outside, what a beautiful evening it was.  In my rush to get out into the outside world I neglected to bring a "real camera" with me, but, to quote Chase Jarvis, the best camera you have is the one you have with you.  Amen.

Here's to my iPhone and it's rather average camera (it's a 3Gs), for being there and enabling me to capture the beauty of the Heath in silhouette...

New studio test shoot, going back to the 80's...

Last week I went back to the studio with some friends..........and some wine.... and this is what came out (there will be more to come as I get through the edit).  We had so much fun, except for when we realised we are subconsciously stuck in the late 80's / early 90's...

Hola my beautiful friends and thank you for being such great and willing models!

A nice little nod on the All Walks blog...

Thanks to the lovely ladies at All Walks for the little intro on their blog piece about the Snapped event a couple of weeks ago...

http://allwalks.org/?p=1932

NME awards...

Last Wednesday was the NME awards at the Brixton Academy, and I was lucky enough to be there shooting for IPC Media along with Red Bull and Carling.  It was an absolutely amazing night, and got me all "fangirl" over PJ Harvey, Warpaint, Liela Moss, Juliette Lewis and of course, the incredible Dave Grohl.
Actually I did thankfully managed to suppress my excitement so as not to embarrass myself, but, it was a room full of greatness in my eyes!

I was able to have access to the tables where all the guests were sitting which ensured a good view of the stage when there were performances - great to see PJ, Crystal Castles and The Foos playing - it also meant getting crushed in amongst a heaving mass of sweaty musicians - everyone was having a great time and it was good to see a distinct lack of egos in the room, everyone was just there to party and have fun.

The best moments had to be getting a great shot of Juliette Lewis and Dave Grohl together - both of whom are incredibly nice people, and of course watching the Foos play an enormous 2 hour set and seeing every body going crazy dancing on tables.  I was shattered by the end of a 6 hour photography stint but it was well worth it, here are some shots from the night...

ALL IMAGES © ANNABEL STAFF PHOTOGRAPHY 2011.  NO REPRODUCTION PERMITTED.  Thanks!

Rob Zombie...

Well, could work get more varied than this?!  Last week shooting a brilliant and beautiful night for All Walks at the National Portrait Gallery, this week huddling up with 30 other photographers in the pit at the Brixton Academy to shoot Rob Zombie!

After a 12 year UK hiatus Rob returned to England for a sell out show, not only that, I believe that this was the first time that Rob had brought over his entire stage - which was, frankly, a mind-blowing spectacle!

The stage, and all us photographers, were in a heavy cloak of smoke from the start - which was simply impossible to shoot through, but somehow it didn't matter since I was in awe of the whole thing!  We were warned prior to the show that Rob loves red lighting - and he didn't disappoint - which was another hurdle to over come, as anyone knows who has to shoot under red (or blue) gels, it does not translate well in camera...

The pyrotechnics were so fierce I could feel the heat permeating around me, the whole set up was really incredible - the outfits, the make-up, the stage, the GIANT metal robot with glowing blue eyes - which Rob came out of to start the show, the grotesque skeleton mic stands, video projections... I could go on for ages.

But, as they say, a picture can tell a thousand words...

(oh and Arsenal beat Barca - what a night!)

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT ANNABEL STAFF / REDFERNS / GETTY IMAGES 

All Walks Beyond The Catwalk...

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!

ROLLING STONE keeps on rolling...!

Without taking away from the excitement of seeing my Duke Spirit shot on the Rolling Stone website, here is another - this time of Kele from a few months back, bumper!