Personal | Polly Alexandre Photography

I can see summer…the makings of an art studio…

April 1, 2013

Week 2

Art-Studio-Week-One

Week 3

Art-Studio-Week-Two

Week 4

Art-Studio-Week-Three

Things have been busy at Polly Alexandre Photography HQ lately. March brought the first wedding of 2013, and the sweetest bride; rain, wind , sunshine, hail….and amazingly in the midst of it all a beach shoot…..in the UK no less!

The art studio is coming along nicely as you you can see from the week by week pictures here. I’m happy with how much progress has been made since it was started 5 weeks ago…..here’s how it looked before. Now we’re just waiting for the custom doors to be made: only in Ibiza would you have a supplier that can’t tell you when the goods will actually be ready… and just offer you an apologetic ‘we are really busy, sorry!”. It’s a lesson in patience and not expecting things to happen at the same pace as they would in London.

The great thing about working on homes & interiors projects, is that you can start planning the interior whilst the exterior is still underway. Today Lolo & I scouted the auction house, Casi Todo, and vintage store, Truc, up in Santa Gertrudis in Ibiza. We saw some interesting things but not ‘the one’.

For a little while the art studio will double up as a guest room so I will keep the furniture to a minimum, and then in the Autumn we start building again, this time the master bedroom suite (where our home is here building isn’t allowed from May-October so you can enjoy outdoor living without any disturbance….pretty cool hey?)…..and then I can really start walking in my shopping shoes.

We started the day ‘estudio espanol’ and finished the day on an awesome pregnancy shoot on Cala Bassa & Cala Conta beaches on Ibiza with the gorgeous blooming beautiful Asiya, and the most incredible sunset. Does it get any better?

Happy Easter everyone!

A Weekend in Valencia

March 13, 2013

Valencia: city of fine buildings, sunshine in November,

dark cobbled streets with dimly lit tapas bars, delicious red wine, and dolphins.

And of course, the most spectacular modern architecture…….

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After booking flights for a winter holiday on the shortly to be defunct Spanair, we needed to take a different tack for our November break after the Spanish airline went into administration. We looked up where was quick and easy to fly from on an Ibicenco November Saturday, and for a bargain 15 euros later a flight to Valencia was confirmed. We opted to stay at the beautiful Palau de la Mar hotel, an impressive Valencian 19th century townhouse converted into a stylish hotel.

Exhausted from work and travel this was our first break since we got back from being married, and a chance to reconnect and rest. One thing we don’t get so much chance to do especially during summer, which is the busiest time for weddings, is to watch films together, and so we took a bunch of films with us. As confirmed animal lovers, we absolutely adored We bought a Zoo, a true story about an American single parent father that bought a home….that came with a zoo. Charming, funny, inspiring and heartwarming. We also watched Shadowlands, an emotional film about CS Lewis, the writer, and his falling in love with a dying American writer. Powerful and moving.

We also visited the city’s aquarium which I wholeheartedly recommend and saw a fantastic dolphin show. They really are amazing animals & so playful & fun. We hit the city’s many tapas bars and drank delicious red wine and ate some great authentic tapas dishes. There was plenty of room service orders placed and yes, that’s 29 degrees Centigrade on the thermometer you see in that image….um, 29 degrees in November…hello Valencia!!

This week’s glass of champagne goes to one of my husband’s clients who gave him the most incredible brief: ‘design a house that no one has seen before’. Let’s just say he got a ton of inspiration from these amazing buildings…..

This project was designed by the amazing Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and went about 8 times over budget and quite possibly was part of the Spanish economic crisis. Calatrava himself was allegedly paid €100m for his work, and now resides in Zurich. Ahem.

Valencia’s government commissioned the project from the architect, who is from the region himself. It is Valencia’s large budget deficits which have helped damage confidence in Spain’s economy.

But if you are going to go into economic crisis, what a way to do it hey?! An incredible legacy…..

So Spring Begins

February 25, 2013

Before-Art-Studio-3

Here in Ibiza Spring is beginning. The almond blossom is out and the island is slowly awakening….. having spent most of January and February in India & London, it’s a delight to see the sunshine of Ibiza and feel the island’s relaxed energy. One day Lolo & I went out to a deserted beach and whilst I did little watercolours in the sunshine, he snoozed in the sun and explored rock pools. Eventually the winter sun become too much for the little bully and we had to head back to the car. We shot polaroids on the way back and then I worked on some oil paintings inspired by the landscape whilst Lolo snoozed (apparently he was brainstorming some new concepts).

The kitchen finally got finished, our London home is *almost* done, my own wedding appeared in You & Your Wedding Magazine (such a sweet memento of our love story) and I’ve been meeting and chatting with lots of lovely new brides and grooms to be. Each and one of your stories is so special, it warms my heart to hear about how you met, how you fell in love and how you plan to celebrate your love and become husband and wife. It’s such a precious and meaningful time in your life and I am proud to be a part of it.

Spring is a time of new beginnings and I have a few of those about to happen in my work and life. You might wonder why I posted this rather random picture – it’s not pretty, doesn’t seem to be of anything in particular, nor is it especially interesting! Well this picture is like the Before shot in those makeovers you see in magazines. This picture is very significant to me as it represents where my new art studio will sit in our garden. The posts mark the layout of the building and where the digging commences today. Alongside my wedding & portrait photography, I also want to explore new creative avenues, and this will be a space for me to do exactly that. My talented husband has designed it and I am beyond excited about having a precious little space dedicated to my creativity. I can’t wait to share the After photo with you! I’m so excited to see the transformation happen week by week…. but especially by the possibilities this new little room will hold…..I am dreaming already….

Sri Lanka

January 21, 2013

I was completely blown away by Sri Lanka when I visited last month…well I just didn’t expect it to be so unspolit….well, so very lovely really…… it was like India without the poverty and stress. An easier, cleaner, more chilled out version of India.

I had chance to shoot a little personal work whilst I was there and I will let these set the scene for the wedding coming up tomorrow….. this is the West Coast of Sri Lanka, Galle and the surrounding beaches. I am amazed at how quiet it is and I really think they deserve more visitors, post tsunami, although not too many as that’s part of it’s appeal. I stayed at a wonderful place, Leijay Resort, which deserves a post of it’s own, and had a rather unexpectedly sweet time. There were chillis in everything, I travelled everywhere by tuk tuk and spent the best part of 6 days being very ex-pat, drinking tea on the veranda and talking non stop with my fellow photographer Aneta Mak who came along to assist. I saw a snake charmer, a dancing monkey (I couldn’t bring myself to be photographed with it, I’m way too much of an animal lover….but snakes…well snakes are snakes aren’t they?! I like to think they enjoy the music and are kind of dancing or something…..but then I do have an overactive imagination…..) and sea turtles. Oh, the sweet sea turtles….more on those later.

Let’s just say I immediately looked up buying property in Sri Lanka on the web on my return: always the sign of a good trip isn’t it?! Sri Lanka is one of the few places where you can, subject to certain conditions, actually own property as a foreigner. And it is incredibly affordable by Western standards. But I have my hands full with living in 2 countries at once, let alone adding a third into the mix so this is one idea I will be keeping firmly locked up in the fantasy box!

Looking Back and Looking Forward

January 20, 2013

{Image of an unspoilt beach on the west coast of Sri Lanka: I kind of like the blank canvas feel of this image….it feels like a starting the year kind of metaphor….}

So new year ends and a new one begins….and it’s a natural point of renewal and reflection. I don’t make new years resolutions as such, but take the opportunity to reflect back over the past year and acknowledge my successes and personal achievements. It can be so easy to always look forward, I believe that to acknowledge and celebrate your past and successes is as important as it is to make plans. Like the act of photographing, it is sometimes only through freezing a moment in time that we are fully able to feel it. To reflect upon it, to acknowledge and appreciate it.

2012 was in many ways a challenging year for me, as I know it was for lots of others (apparently it’s all in the stars according to astrology experts…) but it wasn’t without it’s joys and successes and new discoveries. Oh – and travel of course. Lots of travel. Besides shuttling between the UK & Ibiza throughout the year, I also visited California – Joshua Tree, the Big Sur, Palm Springs, LA; Valencia, Formentera, Paris, the South of France, Sri Lanka and finally on the last day of the year, India. Some of it was pleasure but most of it was work, and all the more exciting for it. It’s going to be a tour around the world on the blog this Spring.

We sold one home in London, and bought another, and in the process signed up to a whole new lifestyle….a whole ton of decluttering, simplifying and streamlining how we live. The Man & I did our first full renovation together (I chose the flat, he designed, he project managed, and I furnished/styled). The flat is almost finished and it looks beautiful & is becoming a source of pride and joy rather than stresses and workmen… ;-). Not context with designing and creating one kitchen in a year, we went on to do a second just before Christmas. Like all good building projects it ran a teensy bit behind and consequently Christmas dinner only just came together in a half finished kitchen. Definitely a learning experience (not a lesson I wish to repeat in 2013!).

I discovered Paleo, and found it in a way of eating that is delicious, sustainable, and effective. Out went the rice, pasta, bread, sugar…. in came tons of fresh fish, chicken, coconut products and vegetables. And pancakes: lots of pancakes (I am the unofficial Paleo Pancake Queen). When eating out I still eat what I want, but even that has subtly changed…and I no longer need lots of carbs to feel full (note to brides dieting for the big day: this is like a non-diet diet and it works!). I trained intensely for the wedding day with a personal trainer (it was worth it brides-to-be!) and in the autumn I started Pilates. I miss my beloved yoga classes in London, and have yet to find a good teacher in Ibiza anywhere near where I live but I hold out hope. I converted a bathroom to a darkroom (which currently sits somewhere between the two but functions as neither…!) and saw my gorgeous bulldog’s health go from strength to strength after a rocky first year, assisted by our amazing housesitter/petsitter Lorraine. Lorraine, along with my assistants, and our cleaners brings some order to our crazy, at times, hectic lives, and I am so grateful to them all for their help & support.

Probably the most significant achievement of all was our wedding, and hopefully in years to come our marriage will also rate as one of our greatest successes. Like all good things it will take hard work, patience and effort, but the love is the greatest thing of all and to celebrate and honour love is right at the heart of what I do.

Things I am loving this month:

1. This amazing house (tipped off by the Reverie girls). Apparently it’s one of my husband’s favourite houses ever. And also apparently you can stay in it. Um, yes please!

2. Fiona Rae’s new exhibition at the Timothy Taylor Gallery in London… the gallery very kindly allowed me to sneak in whilst they were hanging the exhibition and I was blown away…utterly magical, vital and expressive.

3. Julia Hetta’s amazing fashion & portrait photography…elegant, still, refined and so beautifully constructed.

4. Being back at work! Woo hoo! I love what I do and believe it or not I sometimes miss it when I am away….it feels great to be back and I am so excited about all of the weddings I will be photographing this year….and the ones I have yet to share that I photographed over the past year. Here’s to sharing the love!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. May 2013 be a magical and happy year filled with your own successes, joy and love xx