amps, valves and EQ

I've been back to my old stomping ground this week - Abbey Road - photographing equalisers, valves and amps. Abbey Road Studios is such a wonderful place, there's so much history and to be able to get my hands on and photograph the equipment that's been used, and continues to be used, on so many wonderful recordings is a joy. I miss working there and I miss the people especially, but I'm so excited about my new life that I can deal with it - as long as I get to go back every now and then.

Thought I'd give it a go this month, I could do with $100...

Class and Glamour

I visited the Vanity Fair exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery last night, it was wonderful. I only had an hour there and it really wasn't half long enough - it took me that long to get round the 1913-36 years and I didn't have time to properly take in the shots from 1986 onwards. I'm very tempted to go back because I felt that the contrasts in concept and content, between the two eras, were striking.
I came away with an even greater respect for Edward Steichen's photography. For me, his shots were luminous. I also spotted a nice little trick he uses in his portraits. He often creates a line in his background, which cuts the image just a little way in. The more I looked the more I saw it, or perhaps it's just my selective viewing...
Some examples that I spotted.
Noel Coward, Paul Robeson, Anna May Wong and, of course, the image above of Greta Garbo.

Wonderful stuff.