A3 hand signed reproduction giclee print on  Hahnemühle German Etching paper.

I recall moving up north in 2011 to get away from a great deal of pain and start a new life. I fell into a fictional life on Flickr, an image-sharing platform full of fantasists just like me. We grew a community of young, ethereal analogue women photographers, and I believe that is where I met Janelle. Janelle‘s looks were so inspiring to me, and when we spoke, I could imagine a thousand stories we could tell together. I was taken aback that she was in the UK, but she lived in New York and travelled to see a love in England. I was new to the north and felt like I was rattling around in this strange old house I had found to live in. Janelle messaged me one day to say she was coming to England, and I immediately invited her to stay with me. It was January 2012 when she came to stay, and we have spoken most days since then. This was our first shoot together. We were in the moorlands of the west midlands. 

I fancied myself as an auteur, I think, a director and I recall I would shout ridiculous ideas for the models to take on board. “Imagine you are looking for someone; turn back and tell me you’re looking for something” I remember saying something silly like this; I was very earnest.

This was also the first time I used a certain paper that I would use for at least a decade after; it was a Foma paper now discontinued. This image holds a great sentiment of lasting friendship and the simple fact things that change and morph with time. This image is a bridge from now to then, and the knowledge that whatever Janelle’s character in this photo was looking for, she found.