I was pleased to find this first photo I ever took of Marie on our first "date". Having met by unlikely accident and mistaken identity in a pub in Tunbridge Wells we arranged to meet up at "La Cabana", a coffee bar in Sevenoaks the next week. I was expecting that she would probably not turn up so I was delighted when she appeared and more than lived up to my rather hazy memory of the evening. She wasn't at all pleased that I took her photo (while she was stirring her coffee) as it was a blustery winter day outside and she thought her hair was looking "terrible" (which of course I didn't). Anyway we got over that and talked for hours until it closed. Amazingly she agreed to meet again...
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Tags: B&W black and white monochrome film portrait candid 1960s first date art photo jnathan charles La Cabana Sevenoaks
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Checking an old external "Zip" disc, I found a scan of this photo my father took of Marie (with short hair) and me (pre-beard) back in 1969 very soon after we met.
M, always in-vogue, was wearing a very short lacy mini-dress - not normally seen on "The Vine" in Sevenoaks at that time - with matching shiny red belt, shoes & bag (even the slightly visible black underwear was the height of fashion) - and I, as usual, was deeply unstylish.
The scan quality is poor with rather crude blurring of the building in the background but I don't know where the original slide is now so I'm glad I found this before discarding the obsolete drive.
The story continues...
Tags: portrait couple beginning 1969 Sevenoaks Vine photo vintage top-f25
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It wasn't all glamorous!
Another find from the archives of negs I have been scanning. Marie managed to make even my old jumper look good; she is holding my prize Canon 85mm F2 chrome lens (+ probably the 50mm F1.8) while I was using the 28mm F2.8 on my Canon P for some misty landscapes at Chipstead Lake, Sevenoaks and this grab shot.
She didn't think her outfit was very photogenic and gamely changed into a (rather clingy) dress for the next shot.
More from the "Landscapes with & without people" set...
Tags: B&W sepia portrait photographer assistant Chipstead lake outdoor art photo jonathan charles EOSHE jonathan charles Sevenoaks 1970
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This was taken on a winter day by the lake at Chipstead, shortly after the first one in this set. I said it would be nice to take a photo of her in the misty setting but she didn't feel it would look right wearing jeans and my old jumper. She said she had just been shopping and bought a new dress and shoes for a party and she ran back to the car and quickly changed for the photo.
She was quite selfconscious about having her photo taken in a planned way – the few previous shots I had taken had been just snaps in spontaneous moments, and they hadn't been printed yet so she did not know how they were going to turn out. I think the uncertainty shows in her expression, but I thought she looked amazingly glamorous and sophisticated (especially compared with me) – and the serious look was quite fashionable at the time. After a few more weeks, and seeing the results she was much more relaxed about it. Also, moving into a more "hippy" social group, she became less concerned with sophistication (but still kept her adventurous sense of style).
She was only 18 or 19 here but looked a lot younger in later photos over the next few years, partly because of the changes in fashion and style.
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Tags: black and white B&W monochrome portrait 1970 art photo jonathan charles
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A very early pic of M soon after we met - I found it in response to seeing one in a similar style by Summ. This was taken in winter at Chipstead lake, just after this portrait
.
The image does look quite typical of its age - mainly because of the hairstyle and dress - but photos taken of her just a few months later look (to me anyway) quite timeless.
See also the comments below...
P.S. (June 2020): this is a re-edit with improved shadow detail.
Tags: B&W vintage portrait outdoor chipstead lake mist long dress art photo jonathan charles jonathan charles top-f50 chercherlafemme
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