Ben Ashenden

Day 100 of Project Portrait. I can't quite believe I made it this far! It's taken a lot longer than I thought it would, but I'm still just as engaged in spending all my free time going out and re-connecting with people who in some cases I haven't seen in 20 years. I've also had the chance to meet people I would never have had I not taken on something as bonkers as this. Which brings me nicely on to today's shoot of Ben Ashenden. Ben is a friend of Jonathan Petrides' brother - I love degrees of separation wink emoticon. Ben is a freelance writer who crafts comedies and scripts for the likes of Channel 4. So a proper writer - unlike my scribblings. As a result I wanted to try and depict the life of a solo writer, scribbling away on whatever table they can find. So I lit Ben via two small spot lights - that I then built custom gradients for to create those lovely halos - and gave it a lovely warm glow and threw in a few props for good measure. When I look at images like this and compare them to where I started I can't quite believe it. I'm super excited to see where I get to by the time I get to 200. I want to say thank you to everyone who has volunteered thus far and if anyone else is interested (and lives in London) get in touch!
Read less