Ari & Lizzie Cass-Maran: Not just for boys

Being able to combine school work with my own was such a thrill that I wanted more. I spoke to Ari about trying to do something with her involving a big frame - like a comic but an actual physical version. This would make sense because she had recently started up Graphic Scotland. While plotting this image someone pointed out that she had set it up with her wife, Lizzie. So to be reasonable I had to expand the idea to include two people...

I decided that building a huge wooden frame for an effect which could actually be done more appropriately in post-production was perhaps a touch wasteful. The line 'Comic books - not just for boys' came into my head while tossing ideas around and suddenly I knew what I wanted to do. Very accommodatingly they let me invade their boudoir and rearrange it to my liking (pausing to chap to their lovely cat) in order to come up with this shot.

Sara Sheridan: Very modern histories

I bump into Sara all over the place; she writes historical fiction and seems to be quite good at it, judging by her success. During the Book Festival I asked if she would let me add her to my collection and happily she agreed! Of course, there's been no time at all since then to catch up on my to do list because of crazy deadlines so nothing much happened.

This week we were given an assignment at college to produce an editorial portrait, outdoors, showing something of the person's hobby/occupation... so I jumped at the chance to kill two birds with one stone. Within two hours of emailing her to ask if she was available I had booked her into Miss Dixiebelle for a 50s hairdo (her forthcoming novel Brighton Belle, described as a 'cozy crime noir', is set in 1950s Brighton); in the morning I went to borrow an iPad and find a feather.

Claudia Monteiro: Festivals stalwart

Claudia is often seen in Edinburgh's many festivals - unless it's at another festival somewhere in Scotland. When not gadding about town producing events or shouting about the city's amazing creative scene, she can be found around a large pan cooking for the troops. She was asked to provide a picture for an article in a Portugese publication (she's from Lisbon). So i obliged...

Ken MacLeod: Sneaking him in there

I had contacted Ken back at the start of this project and happily, he was up for it. However, terrible weather cancelled the first appointment and then being tempted to the pub by Iain (M) Banks and Charlie Stross after a Science Festival event cut the second one short - and then there just wasn't time!

In the 'real' world I've been taking some portraits of the ESRC Genomics Forum staff; the helpful pixies of coincidence were on my side because Ken is a Writer in Residence there and so I had to get one of him. After missing him in the office by mere minutes I caught up with him at the Book Festival, where I spend most of my time during August and he was often to be seen as well.

As the site was unattractively muddy I used the Spiegeltent.



It seemed terribly appropriate to have him looking amiable in what is effectively a pub. He had even suggested such a thing in the first place.

So it's not the picture it would have been but I rather like it and am glad to finally have him in my collection...

Christina Koh: Frenemy to Malaysian ghosts

Getting back on the horse, I arranged to meet up with Christina Koh, aka Chris Kouju. Having spent years as a journalist she now has a juicy Creative Writing qualification and is putting the finishing touches to her first novel.



Although graduated, Christina definitely counts towards my set of Napier 'top trumps'. I've heard her read bits of her work a few times and always wanted more of these strange ghost stories. We met up in Princes Street Gardens where I was hoping to get a long exposure making passersby look ethereal and unreal. This was foiled by Christina's incredible energy and inability to stay still for a second. In the end, this seemed to capture her joie de vivre rather wonderfully.

UPDATE Christina sent me this nugget she composed in honour of our meeting:

Scott murmured, "Say cheese." The girl grinned, tossed her head and stayed for the camera. Sunlight shot gold into her hair, highlighting the freckles of her arms as the breeze stirred her garden dress that summer's day. Perfect. Scott took the picture, and when he lowered the lens, the girl was gone. Only he heard the wail, rising, realisation dawning. He stroked his camera, fingers soothing: There, there, my love. Don't you see? You'll live forever.

It's on!

After a couple of months either being frantic or catching up on sorely missed sleep it's about time to get back off this wagon.

Watch this space!

Update: On hiatus

After nineteen lovely sessions with fascinating characters I've come to the point where I have to decide on what to hand in to the College. I love all my writers equally of course, but after a long discussion with the relevant tutor we settled on the ten which would be most suitable. Since the shoots and subjects were so varied this comes down to chance more than being any reflection on the models. I'm very grateful to everyone who has given their time to this.

The final images are:




You can see the whole bunch in all their glory here.

This means that for the next wee while I'll not be dashing around meeting writers. Which is not to say that I feel the project is over - how could it be!? I suspect I'll be keeping this going for a long time yet, but a few weeks to focus on other work is necessary.