I was encouraged to join a group on Facebook, the Burlesque Big Sister/ Brother project, where I could give something back to the community that I have been a part of for a good number of years now. This year I offered a photoshoot per month, winners are selected and I contact them for a date to shoot.

This months winner is Fleur de Lille! This shoot had a 60’s vibe with a dash of the ’70s due to the massive building that dominated the skyline.

I had not been to Ladbroke Grove before, sounds like the kind of place that untamed betting shops hang out to eat grass. I walked out of the station and turned left and started to walk up the hill passing a very old church on my right. As usual, I was very early so found a shop at the end of the road to buy a bottle of water. Which incidentally I nearly always either forget to bring with me or to drink during the day anyhow.

I met Fleur at the designated meeting place along with her friend Debbie who was showing us around to certain sites we could shoot at. Ian would join us later so for the first time I would like to think we had some personal security guards with us. (Must get some black coats with the word Henchman pasted on the back for next time)

Our first stop.. a post box!

Fleur’s attempt at ventriloquism didn’t work on the post box.

I’m not quite sure of the age of the post box but I had to zoom in on this shot, even though we were going for a 60’s vibe I could’’t help but notice all the satellite dishes and modern cars passing by.

Next up was an odd choice, the entrance to a Ladies convenience. Not quite the place I normally focus my creative output on but I like the shot as it lends itself to an older part of London that could have been taken at the ’60s. We did get a few odd looks from the ladies who walked up the stairs to street level.

Moving on, we passed a man who was looked drunk who tried to model for me and a shop whose name translates to The Dogs Bollocks then up to a bridge over some rail lines. Here was a small area between the road and the residential area. There was a gate guarding nothing so I asked Fleur to stand on this nothing and peer over the fence for the first shot then to stand with her back to the other fence for the next.

The massive tower block you can see behind the fence is Trellick Tower, built-in 1972 and designed by architect Ernő Goldfinger. Hopefully not related to a Bond villain but I think the separate tower could be housing a ballistic missile aimed at the Capitalist West. Trellick was our next destination.

I do like stairs, they have their ups and downs but they do make a for a nice backdrop at times. As was now with Fleur laughing at something I said. I just had to get the massive concrete building in one of the shots and had Fleur point up towards the main block. Hopefully, someone felt we were pointing at them!

At this point, our security had left for the pub so we wandered around the canal and spotted a mannequin lounging about on someone’s rooftop. You don’t see that every day. We tried to recruit a few pigeons to model for us but they were all divas and just flew off.

We decided to join our security team in the pub and took a photo on the bridge after we crossed the road. While making use of the pubs outside garden next to the river I took out my 50mm f1.8 lens which I hadn’t used in a while to take the last shot of Fleur while she was drinking.

This is my favourite twisted piece of metal, all the others are just copying him…

Thanks Fleur, really enjoyed the shoot!