Characters Of The Day: @stevefurst, @eoschater, @corrinagreyson

From left: @corrinagreyson, @eoschater, @stevefurst

@stevefurst

“I can remember getting the call. It was hot. Real hot. Hot like like Cheryl Cole smoking on a fire. I was in town. Kentish Town. I was moving stuff. Don’t ask me what. Just stuff.

The voice on the phone was Chris Floyd. It had been ages since I’d spoken to this shutter-monkey. I needed to flick back through the rolodex of my memory to FurstSearch a decent image. He’d been following me for a while now. Just to be kind I followed him back. My fear was; could the man step up to the plate? Could he deliver? I needn’t have worried. Floyd is a born wiseass. Even limited to 140 Characters here was a man that talked the talk. Not only that, he knows his onions; every variety.

As soon as I heard his voice I knew he wanted something but I didn’t mind giving it. You see………Floyd and I went way back. Back to a previous life when New Labour was still a glint in Tony Blair’s eye. Back when the drugs were better but the women were worse.

‘Sure you can take my picture. Why the hell not. I’ll ask a few buddies…..its for a project you say?’ I didn’t tell him that I always hated projects ever since my pop-up How The Tudors Lived was ridiculed in front of my 6th grade class by Mr Nalewajko.  ‘For you Floyd, I’ll do it! Just make sure there’s a buffet……’ I’m a Jew. And we gotta eat.

My friends were less than helpful. I was subjected to all manner of excuse : ‘We’re busy…’ ‘I’m a sick man’ ‘get out of my garden’. The only two who took their place in the spotlight were two blonde lady musos. The sultry voiced leggy soul chanteuse Corrina Greyson and gorgeous Welsh fiddle virtuoso Eos Chater. What man wouldn’t kill another man to have his photograph taken with these two insanely hot lady-people? Thankfully I didn’t have to kill. Not that day anyways.

We did it every which way. Threes-up, one on one, two over one, ladies together with me watching, on the floor, stood up – it was an orgy of digi pics. After 15 minutes we were spent.

The pictures are gorgeous.

Needless to say, there was no buffet.”

@eoschater

“So Chris Floyd has been on at me to write a thing. It’s like he doesn’t realise I’m busy or something. It’s all me, me, me with him*.

When I started following him on Twitter I did so because he was funny.  But then I read a blog he posted about being a photographer and how the solitude had prompted him to undertake the 140 characters Twitter portraits project. I loved the idea of taking Twitter to a physical next step where things get to happen in the real world.  So we met in his studio with Steve Furst and Corrina Greyson. We stood on a sheet of paper and Corrina nearly trashed the place with her impressive leaping skills.

I can’t remember exactly what Steve was saying in the moment of time that was etched onto Chris’s digital hard drive- but I know it was funny. I know this because Steve is made of funny. And I’m laughing.

After we had done the pictures we went to a local pub where we got talking about photography and photographers and the sometimes odd relationship between photographer and subject. Being a musician in a group, I have had a fair amount of experience being photographed and it can range from being fun and enjoyable through tedious to really uncomfortable and a bit soul destroying. Chris’s shoot was the former.

Whilst models are pros at being photographed and snap into ‘work’ mode, for non-models the outcome of the shoot depends a lot on the relationship you develop with the photographer. My job is the violin and and my work sometimes expands into being photographed. I guess with musicians and other non-models, it’s more about photographing character than anything else, and the photographer can either make you go into yourself or bring out the best in you.  After all, it’s very hard to fake a smile. It was interesting to hear things from the photographer’s point of view. Chris remembered that he had shot my group (Bond) years before for Marie Claire magazine. I remember that being a fun experience too and being really pleased with the results.

I’ve met lots of people through Twitter in the real world and I consider a lot of them to be actual friends.  Yay Twitter and yay Chris for showing how it can straddle both virtual and physical realities.”

*It really isn’t.”

@corrinagreyson

“Before and after…

This was taken on my way home from a weekend in Rotterdam, performing at The North Sea Jazz Festival. It was the same weekend the World Cup Final took place. I was due to play just before the match which, considering Holland lost 1-0 to Spain, was the perfect billing. But what an atmosphere. The rest of the weekend was spent watching, meeting, jammin’ and partying with astounding musicians from all over the world. It was an exciting and inspiring experience that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Amazingly Chris Floyd managed to capture my whole adventure in this one shot perfectly. Just as well, as what you don’t see is me skidding across the studio, arms flailing, grabbing everything within reach and bringing pretty much the whole set down around me upon landing a la Frank Spencer in a heap on the floor.“