Dirty Fabulous: An unusual Portrait

I first came across Alex and his striking portraits at the vintage fair in the Burlington a couple of years ago.
I was hooked, They were so atmospheric and evocative of a bygone age, right up my street!
So I was super excited when Kathy got me a voucher for a portrait for Christmas!
Now I have to admit it wasn't last christmas I got the voucher but the previous one, I kept waiting for a day when I felt I could do the voucher justice!
And then it got to be so long that I thought I better use it before it expired altogether.
When I looked through his website, what appealed to me most was the rougher looking portraits of the men. The more textured and knarly looking the better as far as I'm concerned with this type of photograph.

I also spoke to Alex prior to the portrait to see how colour reacted to the process. When I got the voucher I had red hair, Alex told me that reds tend to look black and also to keep my signature reddish eyeshadow to a minimum. By the time I did the shoot my hair was blue, so I didn't really know what it would look like.
In keeping with the 19th century photography technique I wore an edwardian french lace blouse which was very demure and ladylike!
I decided to go very minimal with my make up but in hindsight I wish I had worn absolutely none at all. I had lip gloss on and I think my eyebrows are too groomed looking! Next time I think I'll go straight from bed, messy hair and bare skin!
It's not the type of portrait that is all soft focus and photoshopped. It's a very raw look and that's what makes it so interesting.
Alex explained all of the steps involved from the beginning, from treating the aluminium plate, placing it in a silver tank for a timed period right through to developing the plate after the actual portrait, so you get to see the image develop on the aluminium in real time in the darkroom.