All photos by Eliza Prichard

My Dear Lovelies,

It wasn’t that many years ago that I was chasing around a bunch of little people I loved at the beach and the pool with a Leica and a Nikonos hanging around my neck trying to capture them in moments of joy, action, play, and laughter. 

They were my greatest photography joy, my nieces and nephews. I’m grateful to them for so much, for coming along on my photography journey, diving underwater, jumping down slides giddy with delight, doing handstands in the green sea off Positano, playing dress ups and being willing participants in the act of image-making.

Photography inspired us to play together and mostly they were as excited to see an image of themselves underwater, as I was.

Maybe some of it has rubbed off on them. The years have rolled by and one of those dear sweet people that I once chased around is now a multi-talented photographer and designer and just hours before jumping on a plane to Paris we switched roles. 

Inspired by a special new dress gifted by the gorgeous people at MATIN Studio, I was photographed in a way I’ve never been photographed before and had the chance to see a subject I know so well (myself) in a whole new light. 

You see that’s the magic of handing my photography (baton) to a member of the next generation, to let her bring her story, her light, her ideas, vision, energy, hopes, dreams and rudder to the act of creating.

I love these photos, I love this version of myself I’ve never seen before, I love the way Eliza has captured my love for life but in a modern way that I’ve never been able to do. There is  a little Jean Loup Sieff vibes when he photographed Tippi Hendren and Alfred Hitchcock.

Inspiration is a magical thing, sometimes it just takes a dress gifted by someone you love, a sleeve, a row of buttons, an idea, a spark, a whisper of maybe and hours later something exists from that gossamer idea.

As a woman in my fifties I can’t tell you how much pleasure it is to hand the baton on, to let another generation have their time, their voice, their space, their creativity and to see it executed in such an amazing, elegant and original way. 

And like many women I’ve photographed over the years who have had the pure pleasure of seeing themselves in a new light, I too partake today in that same feeling of magic of loving a version of myself that I never new existed.

Thank you to the beautiful Eliza Prichard for this beautiful gift, talent, time and incredible eye and also to MATIN Studio for the dress and inspo.

Carla x