Photograph Four

Michelle came over today after her singing lesson and we went up to the Heath to take her portrait for the Pepys album cover. I wanted to photograph her in the tree with the hole in it, which is a spot which has a great significance for me. It featured in my very first film, Hampstead Heath: The Musical, and has been a Mecca for me and friends ever since. I've sat there in the middle of the night on several summer evenings and written about it many different times in this blog. It's basically an enormous tree, which has a hole in it big enough for five people to sit within. The wood inside the tree has been worn smooth by generations of visitors, including Finlay Quaye, who chose the spot for one of his album covers.

It was a beautiful day, and Michelle is one of those non-blinkers who you can ask to look towards the sun when she's being photographed and expect not to hear a load unnecessary whinging! I think she's aware how utterly stunning her eyes are, and how, with a little help from the sun, they turn into pools of glorious cornflower ice!

At the end of the shoot we were disturbed by a sort of clicking sound, which became something of a high-pitched roar! We turned a corner to find a running race in full flow, not just fifty or so runners, we're talking thousands of them, in an almost endless river, snaking its way over muddy pathways and through the trees. Thankfully they were all wearing spikes on the bottoms of their running shoes, so their were very few accidents. We did see a couple of runners tumble, however. As the river continued down the hill, the runners in it became increasingly old, slow and fat, which we found a little amusing. There were no women in sight. We assume they'd started their race at a different time.

As we watched them rushing past Michelle confessed a strong desire to flash them, which would, of course, have been hysterical. Sadly, I think she was joking!

I came back to Highgate, did a bit of work, and then settled down for an evening of telly and food. Fiona came up. She's rehearsing with Placebo at the moment and fancied a bit of a low-Fi evening, so we made pasta and salad and bedded in in front of a documentary about weird weather whilst Nathan wound wool.