Leah 006

After doing a couple of photo shoots in the Limerick area with Bonnie and Beata, I returned to the Dublin area where Leah was the first of five models who posed for me. After a miserable experience with the B&B hospitality in Limerick - an almost hostile elderly couple that clearly had been in business too long - it was a treat to be back in "Ulysses" at the Esplanada (Strand Road) in Bray. B&B owners Colm and Deirdre gave me a large room for three guests instead of a single room, without any extra charge. During my stay in April (see photo shoots with Grazyna, Emilia, Sohaila and Osi, second weblog), Deirdre had seen my glasses collection and a bit of the photo shoots as well. She gave me the big room so that the glasses could be on display permanently. This gesture was much appreciated as it saved me a lot of time during the week in Bray.

As it turned out, Leah loves all things vintage but she also prefers photography in black and white. So my approach in this documentary is to focus on black and white photos, except where the colour version gives information that would be missed otherwise.

The photo shoot with Leah was done in one of the shelter constructions at the Esplanada, only some 20 yards from the Irish Sea. The construction provided some shelter against the wind and rain. Always handy given the unpredictable Irish weather. We were lucky and Leah was well able to do the entire photo shoot in this beautiful, timeless black dress. I liked the mixture of classic and alternative elements in her outfit. Call it classic portrait photography with a twist :).