Now Concentrate…

My favourite skincare folk at REN were kind enough to send me a new product that’s just launched so that I could test it out and see what I thought. WEE-HOOOO! Amazing! I love this job . . .

It’s called ‘Bio Retinoid Anti-Ageing Concentrate’ and the idea behind it is to offer a natural, “clean” alternative to synthetic Retinol products. Retinol has long been used in skin care as a powerful treatment. Essentially, it’s an animal form of vitamin A, and it has been proven to help improve certain skin conditions such as pigmentation, wrinkles, acne and other skin imperfections. However, even in creams that you can buy in chemists/salons/etc, it’s quite an intense treatment and can be a bit harsh on some people’s skin.

I was totally intrigued by the press release statements that this product really could be an excellent alternative to these artificially produced Retinol creams and serums (which I have never been able to use). The results sound wonderful: ‘Skin appears smoother and younger. Complexion appears brighter and more even toned. Reduces the appearance of wrinkles, age spots and imperfections. Skin looks firmer, plumper and healthier.’ GIMME SOME O’ THAT! Now, I turned 32 years old last week, and although I know I have good skin and no major wrinkles, I do sometimes feel pretty lacklustre. My life is quite stressful at the moment in terms of business, and I often feel like I haven’t had enough sleep or eaten properly.

So, anything that can help with this on the outside is very welcome!

I decided to use the product religiously for at least a month to test the effectiveness on my stressed out skin. I shall report back in due course, but after reading all the information I have very high hopes! I guess no-one wants to look “old”.

I’m of the opinion that wrinkles do not necessarily = “old”.

To me, looking old is a combination of having dull, crap skin and hair; feeling tired in general; and having the “wrong” type of wrinkles (like horrid, premature, smokers wrinkles round the mouth and deeply etched into the cheeks), because to me the joyous lines that form at the corners of the eyes as we get older are a sign that you have laughed and enjoyed life. Surely this is a good thing? For the same reason, I embrace grey hair. I haven’t got any yet but I look forward to the day where I have a flowing silver mane.

Here is a (very badly taken on the laptop) photo of how my face looks without a scrap of make-up (gulp):

As you can see, I have a mega spot on my chin (it appears in the same place every time, weird eh?) and a few blotchy patches. I don’t have any major lines, except on my forehead. I don’t frown much so I don’t really get the central ones between my eyebrows, but I do raise my eyebrows a lot when I talk so there are horizontal lines! Pretty hard to get a picture without looking like a massive dick, but in the name of beauty journalism, I have done my best:

Ace.  So glad this is now on the internet.

So, it would be nice to have this amber, unctuous serum sort these out a little bit. Soften them, you know. I have used it before bed for the past two nights after cleansing my face (which I do religiously – NEVER go to bed in your make-up or without washing your face. It’s gross). I massaged it in as suggested, and then used a moisturiser afterward. I mean, massaging in anything to your face – keep it clean please – is great for your circulation and skintone. Give it a try y’all.

I won’t list all the scientific facts on here, because it’s interesting to know but boring to read, and you can read all about it on the REN website here anyway. But, I think that having this natural alternative to chemical laden products is so reassuring. It makes me feel nice to use these products, to know I am using a gentle alternative and from a company whose ethics are sound and admirable.

LOOK at that gorgeous stuff! Ooh, it’s so silky as well. It’s the colour of golden syrup and feels like it’s doing you loads of good. Soon I’ll know . . .

Remember to check out the other products available at REN. They aren’t paying me to say this, by the way. I truly believe that they are one of the best skincare companies out there. You know, it’s so easy for people to say “to look healthy, you need to get loads of sleep, be happy, suffer no stress, eat well, be in love . . .” Well, it’s not always the case that all of these things are feasible. Yes, you look AMAZING when you’re in love, even after no sleep! But life can be hard and it’s good to have cossetting, wonderful products to help you feel better and more confident. The most beautiful people I know have peaceful, kind faces and this to me is the best way to look and to stay. Just give yourself a little helping hand once in a while! It’s a nice thing to do for your face and body.

And trust me, you could all do with some care and attention. We are special!

Faces

I photographed some new faces for my project this week. Two very different, very cool guys. Both musically inclined though.

Samuel Breen is a writer and publisher who lives in Manchester but has worked for many different publications, including Dazed & Confused, Vice Magazine, The Guardian and Clash Magazine (get more details here). I liked photographing his lovely oval face and cherubic mouth. The light was absolutely WACK that day and we’d both had very, very, very late nights, but he was a total trooper. He also had a totally wicked bright blue bubble jacket on, shame you can’t see it properly…

Next up was Niles, who met me on his lunch break from work as a Patrick Bateman wannabe. Niles is one of the founders of Emotional Pop (where you can find a few of my near-hysterical posts about how much I love George Michael and that), as well as being a fucking good photographer himself. Check out some of his stuff here. He also took my portrait for one of his own projects. Not surprisingly I look devastatingly attractive*

*because my face is hidden behind my camera

Niles likes to resemble a Serbian warlord at all times, I think you’ll agree he has stuck to his principles here. Great face.

Feature on Oomska

I was recently featured in the online magazine Oomska as part of their Photography Q&A series. Oomska asked various photographers the same set of questions and got us to answer as honestly as we could. Although I can bang on about a load of shit for hours, I don’t really like talking about myself, as such. Saying that, it was really cool to be asked for my opinion on a subject that I love. And even though I’ve been working in the field for a long time now, I still have so much to learn. Which is a good thing.

Here is my article, which you can read in full on the site here.

Future of Photography Q&A No.8 – Emma Jay

Jan27 by John Carvill

Oomska’s ‘Future of Photography’ Series continues…

We presented our interviewees with a set list of questions, and left the matter of in what format and at what length they should answer entirely up to them. Here are Emma Jay’s responses.

1. How and when did you first become interested in photography? What was the trigger which led you to take a serious interest? How different would that trigger be now, with all the changes – technological and otherwise – in photography during the intervening years?

I think I was about 6 or 7 years old when I started to be fascinated by photographs. There wasn’t any particular trigger, more that I was a “watcher” as a child. I would observe. I still do that. It wasn’t until I was at University that I took a serious interest – buying a good camera and experimenting in the dark room.

2. Photography is often described as a mixture of art and science. It’s also a medium. How has digital technology altered the way these elements combine to produce what we think of as ‘photography’? Has technology altered that balance?

I’m not so sure about this. One can alter an image digitally, but you still need an ‘eye’ for an image initially. Digital technology has made photography more accessible to people, but I don’t think it has made them all artists.

3. Prior to the introduction of digital, how much did the equipment you used change over the years? How has digital changed the way you use equipment? How would today’s technology, if you could have used it earlier, have changed your relationship with photography?

When I first started taking photos, I used a 35mm SLR and a Polaroid camera. I still love the Polaroid! I then “progressed” to a 6X6 medium format, which I really enjoyed using but found very challenging. I don’t think I’m technically minded enough to have fully mastered it. With the advent of digital equipment, I shoot a lot more images. It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes – they can be deleted. With the medium format, I only had 12 exposures to a roll of film, so had to be very careful…

4. How would photography’s great pioneers have embraced and utilised today’s technology? Might Ansel Adams be using software to stitch together panoramas of Yosemite? Would Garry Winogrand be using an iPhone? Would Eadweard Muybridge be experimenting with HDR?

Interesting question. I definitely think photographers like Winogrand, Nan Goldin and even Cartier-Bresson would have utilised the immediacy of camera phones in a fascinating way. I think for landscapers, it’s different. There is a slowness to the creation of those images which is still the case today. Possibly Adams or similar would still use what is “there” rather than what they can create afterward. I’d love to see how Dorothea Lange would have embraced or rejected the technology.

5. In some ways, digital seems to have ‘won out’ over film. Digital photography is everywhere, while companies such as Nikon and Fuji are discontinuing some of their films and film cameras. Is this process irreversible? Should we care?

We should care, yes; but at the same time (in a similar way to tapes replacing vinyl, CDs replacing tapes, mp3 replacing CDs, etc) we should embrace the new technology. It doesn’t mean that film should become obsolete. I think there is room for all. I was devastated when Polaroid announced they wouldn’t be producing anymore, but other companies have stepped in to fill the void. There will always be passionate people out there who love film and will not let it fade into extinction.

6. Are there some qualities or aspects of film photography which digital will never be able to replicate or replace? If so, will these aspects of photography die with film?

Well, it’s interesting that a lot of the new photography apps seek to replicate the “unreliable” aspects of film, but without the unreliability! So, I guess a few years ago I would have answered yes. Now, I’m not so sure.

7. Will the ‘camera’, as we (still) think of it, even remain as a distinct device? Or will ‘camera’ become just one of a plethora of multimedia features people expect to find on any number of hybrid consumer appliances?

I can’t answer this question. I have no idea..

8. A few years back, Magnum photographer Eliott Erwitt was quoted as saying: “Digital manipulation kills photography. It’s enemy number one.” He also disdained digital in general, for its ability to produce “an image without effort”. To what extent would you agree or disagree with these sentiments?

Hmm. I do agree. I think now it’s all to easy for people to take a crappy image and then “fix” it in photoshop later on. This does take away from the skill required to get the lighting just right, or the shutter speed, or the colour balance. I try to get it right initially, I hate Photoshop and never use it. However, I do find cropping tools very useful… I think a lot of people today fancy themselves as photographers and can technically take a good image, but it lacks soul and heart and integrity. There’s no passion in it. To use film, you have to really love it.

9. We’re all thoroughly weary of the ‘fix it in Photoshop’ approach. But defenders of digital post-processing often say, “Well, it only does what you used to do in the darkroom.” Is this a valid argument?

No.

10. For how much longer will the general conception of ‘photography’ refer exclusively to static, two-dimensional images? Imminently, 3D is looming, and ‘convergence’ – meaning not just the ability of modern DSLR’s to capture high-definition video, but the compulsion to make use of that functionality – is a current buzzword. Does this trend – photographers becoming film-makers, and vice versa – ignore the important divisions between static and moving images?

I don’t necessarily think that this is that relevant. I don’t know any photographers personally who are interested necessarily in creating moving images. I’m certainly not interested in that. I see the static image as being very, very different to the moving image. I have no real interest in creating moving images; and if I did, I wouldn’t compare it to photography. I probably wouldn’t even see it as being the same genre, really. To me, it’s no different to someone creating paintings, and then moving to filming images. I don’t see a direct correlation, other than the equipment used.

11. Cinema historian David Thomson, in his ‘Biographical Dictionary of Film’, wrote the following, regarding Marilyn Monroe: “She gave great still. She is funnier in stills, sexier, more mysterious, and protected against being. And still pictures may yet triumph over movies in the history of media. For stills are more available to the imagination.” How much more of a contentious statement does that seem today?

I don’t think it is that contentious. I agree with him. I think the still image will always evoke more than the moving image. I cannot explain why, either.

Emma Jay started taking photographs in 1998, and started working freelance as a photographer soon after. Initially working with 35mm and medium format cameras, she slowly moved into digital photography – all the while lamenting the decline of the polaroid. She takes portraits. Sometimes these are of people, sometimes places. She loves photo apps on her iPhone. She doesn’t care about being technically perfect or even technically good.

Australi-aaaah

Some ace new images on the Re:collection blog . . .

I’m also adoring these fresh looks from the new collection by Australian fashion label, Lover. The dresses are great, particularly that petrol coloured shirt dress! Niiiiiiiiice.

Animals Of Sweden

I spent Christmas in Sweden and saw many, MANY creatures. These were my favourites.

I hope you had a festive time! DIET STARTS NOW.

Ain’t No Party Like A KX Party!

Last Saturday I went down to photograph an event for a new energy drink called KX. The brand were creating a series of youth events across the country  – this one was in the Sacred Heart Church in Gorton, Manchester, where there is an excellent youth club with a thriving mentor programme.

The two mentors I met, Joy and Keith, have been encouraging the local kids to get involved with various music and dance projects, and the vitality was pretty inspiring. The event consisted of some showcases of the skills and then a series of short workshops to get everyone involved.

When I got there, Vicki Stavrinos from V Dance Studios in Chelmsford, Essex, was just warming up with some of her protegees from the Bam Bam Boogie crew!

She had four teens with her, ranging from 14 to 18 years old, and they were the nicest kids I’ve met in ages. So super positive and motivated. They explained that dancing with Vicki has increased their confidence, made them loads of ace mates, and set them on a path which they all feel that they want to pursue professionally.

They were getting ready for their street dancing showcase, and were pretty excited about performing – all of them wanted to perhaps get into backing dancing for a huge star . . . Janet Jackson seemed to be the top choice!

Next up, one of the group mentors, Keith, did a little DJ workshop with some of the local teens. Harder than it looks! Here he is with Nicole, who had the most incredible singing voice and was a sheer delight to be around.

Lovely youth club mentor Joy joins in with some of the singing . . . The kids had written a song called ‘Relationships’ which they performed for everyone. Nicole explained that without the support of Joy and the other mentors they probably wouldn’t have had the confidence to do this sort of thing. They had even been able to perform it in London at a workshop down there, and they were chuffed to bits about it.

The Bam Bam Boogie showcase starts with Fran (blonde hair) leading the way . . .

So great to see dedicated people doing something they love! Next, Vicki lead a dance workshop, making sure everyone was involved.

Learning the moonwalk! There’s a real science to it, so Vicki broke it down into manageable steps. Everyone was loving their new found skill. Including me. I’m terrible at it though. TERRIBLE.

Next up, capoeira! A Brazilian dance martial art, capoeira was created by slaves as a means of empowerment and is now widely practiced. This group, based in Manchester had a charismatic leader from Cape Verde, who despite his lofty height, was graceful and nimble.

After the quite frankly AWESOME demonstration,  everyone else joined in for a workshop. Needless to say, the ninja-style reflexes of the longstanding members couldn’t be matched, but everyone had a good go. Looked blimmin’ exhausting to me . . .

Capoeira makes you happy! Find out more about this group here.

Such a lovely day. And so nice to know that there are people out there providing these excellent services for young people in their communities. Please contact me if you wish to know anything more about any of the groups featured in this post.

Buds Of, er, May

I made a trip down to Bud Garden Centre the other day to pick up some plants and festive bits. Run by Brenda and Severine, who met whilst working for a community garden project, Bud is the teeniest but most lovingly created garden centre I’ve ever seen.

The focus is on sustainability and local suppliers, and many of the plants are grown peat-free by Brenda, Severine and a posse of brilliant local gardeners.  The centre can be reached by public transport (see the above link for all details) and is a real sight for sore eyes compared to the local B&Q behemoth nearby. As well as a wonderfully curated selection of plants, they also sell loads of ace extras. I bought some wooden Christmas tree decorations made locally from reclaimed wood, and some pretty potted winter daffodils for my kitchen!

Obviously, they have ACE, sustainably sourced Christmas trees too…

Check it out. Support your local businesses!

And remember, shop local this Christmas!

Secret Garden

REN-dered Speechless

For a while now, people have been asking me what I use on my skin that makes me so goddam beautiful *ahem*, and also requesting some beauty posts on TIMBER. I thought I’d start a series of monthly (or so) posts about skincare, make-up, etc. Not enough to scare away my rugged male readers (Luke Unabomber), but just to expand the theme a little. PEOPLE WHO LIKE FASHION ALSO LIKE MAKE-UP TOO, OK?

I definitely try to look after my skin, but I wouldn’t say I’m particularly obsessive about it. I use some really nice products, and I also happen to have excellent genes . . . right Mum? I’ll do a facial skincare thing soon for all you stalkers out there, but today I want to talk about something that handily combines the chosen theme AND looks really cool.

I got sent the most beeeeeeeyoooootiful gift set this week. Ultra-luxe, ethically sound skincare line REN has teamed up with de Gournay (purveyors of exquisite hand-painted wallpapers and wall coverings) to create the packaging for the REN Christmas gift collections. Truly, the boxes are a wonder. Sturdy and perfect to use again and again, they are delicately patterned with Japanese and Korean floral designs, which somehow work perfectly with the slick, minimalist packaging of the products within. My box contained the Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash and Body Cream, which previous users of REN will know to be the most amazing things ever created.

LOOK at that box!! What a beaut! Now, just to fill you in, REN products are almost as pure as the driven snow. I have been using them for years, and they seriously work. Just because something doesn’t contain millions of yucky chemicals, doesn’t mean that it can’t work as effectively. They are free from synthetic fragrance, pore-blocking petrochemicals, sulfate detergents, synthetic colours, animal ingredients (apart from milk in one product) and parabens. For an even more detailed list of forbidden nasties, see here.

Things like parabens are pretty much totally unnecessary in skincare. They’re basically used as preservatives to make the product last longer, but if you use it properly you should never have a need to make it last for 6 years. I mean, hello?!!! REN and other brands like Dr Hauschka and Spezia do not compromise on their ethical standpoints, yet still produce wonderfully luxurious products that . . . wait for it . . . WORK. Try them. Go on.

So, I open up the box, and see . . .

Slick. The shower gel basically smells like 14,000 beautiful male models are sprinkling velvety rose petals over your naked body like that bit in American Beauty with whatshername. It is the best wake-up shower you could ask for. AND it’s also the most relaxing pre-bedtime, cossetting shower you could ask for. By the way, you can also squirt it in your bath like foam. But it you wanna be seriously rosy, use their Moroccan Rose Otto Bath Oil which smells how I imagine heaven smells and leaves your skin as smooth as buffed marble.

Then, to further intensify the rosy glow, smooth in the Body Cream, which sinks in like a dream and doesn’t leave you all greasy. Bloody delicious.

Yay! Products! After swishing away the old and Moroccan Rose-ing in the new, I just hung out in my house totally naked for, like, two hours. I kept smelling my arms and feeling really smug about myself and my life. It’s the best therapy.

Here are some images of the other gift sets, as I’m thinking you should probably invest (check them out on the REN site here):

Look at the boxes on the last two! MY GOD. How could you give them away as presents? I just want to keep them for myself . . . With regards to other body products I use and love, you cannot beat anything personalised. My aunt, Lynne Tomlinson, is a respected clinical hypnotherapist, but she is also a qualified aromatherapist. She has made me some incredible body oils over the years, but my favourite is a combination of rose, vertivert, patchouli, ylang ylang and lavender. Try making them yourself – pretty easy. Just use a scentless neutral base oil like jojoba, almond or avocado oil and then add a combo of essential oils you like the smell of. Anyone in a big health food shop can advise you on these. If you’ve got a bun in the oven, you need to be careful of over-using certain strengths of oils, so make sure you do ask.

Check out the following places for more natural loveliness: Dr Hauschka, Spiezia Organics, JASON, Neal’s Yard Remedies, and suki.

And don’t forget . . .

Christmas Cheer

Come to this! Me, Lisa Stannard, and Natalie Cannell will all have stalls (among others) and it would be great to see you.