Betty Bull – Milkmaid

29th October 2013

Betty Bull started milking cows straight after she left school at fourteen, back in 1944. She milked by hand, by the light of a paraffin lantern. She then carried the four gallon steel pails on a yolk across her shoulders (she claims this is why she’s so short) down the lane to the churns which would be collected by the milk lorry. The cow milk jug is one of many cow themed jugs, mugs, and tea towels that decorate her little cottage where she has lived since the 1960’s. Her family has been milking in Dorset since 1650.

Paul Dare – Farmer

24th October 2013

Paul Dare has farmed cattle in the Marshwood Vale in Dorset all his life, as did his father, his grandfather and his great grandfather.

Jodie Kidd – Supermodel

18th October 2013

Jodie Kidd in her garden at home. Whilst we may all know Jodie Kidd as one of the worlds top supermodels, you may not know that she’s a very accomplished polo player, a racing driver (and one of the fastest stars in a reasonably priced car on Top Gear) as well as a golfer. As a country girl her hands have taken their fair share of knocks with broken fingers and thumbs a not uncommon occurrence. Whilst she has very feminine hands, they have to be strong as well as gentle. “When you’re communicating with a horse at speed, or the wheel of a racing car, your touch isn’t about force and strength, but about the subtlest and lightest of touches.”

Martin Hobbs – Horn Player LPO

14th October 2013

I spent a very full day shooting with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in London and managed t grab a few hands pictures while I was at it.

Anne McAneney – Trumpeter

Anne McAneney has played in over 4,500 concerts, 41 different countries and has trumpeted for over 55,000 hours – that’s quite some commitment to music!

Tim Crook – Hand Surgeon

9th October 2013

Tim Crook has sliced into over 4000 hands, he’s removed fingers, replaced fingers, fixed joints and tendons, you name it he’s done it. “The hand is endlessly fascinating, it’s designed to be so strong and at the same time so soft, to feel so much and yet withstand so much.” They revolutionised our evolution as a species, we communicate, survive, care, build, fight and protect with them, it’s astonishing we don’t think about them more than we do.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes – Explorer

8th October 2013

I was rather nervous of meeting Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He looks rather daunting in many of his portraits, but nothing could be further from the truth. We were to meet in Wiltons in Jermyn Street, but having scoped the location I was dismayed to discover there was zero light in the restaurant. Thankfully the staff there bent over backwards to help, and kindly reserved an outside table for us at their sister restaurant down the road. Sir Ranulph arrived early, was utterly charming, and couldn’t have been more helpful. We sat drinking coffee and talking about his life and expeditions, and I discovered he was once, believe it or not, up for the part of James Bond. Cubby Broccoli thought he looked like a farmer and had farmer’s hands, so the part went to Roger Moore. He’s the only man alive to have circumnavigated the globe along it’s vertical axis, and his list of expeditions is both exciting and daunting. He told me of a time on Everest, just 300m short of the final ridge, lying in a tent pitched next to two dead Italians, when he had a heart attack and felt his chest ripping apart. He really has lived an extraordinary life, and most of his expeditions have not been for personal gain, but to raise a considerable amount of money for charity.

Michael Morpurgo – Author

4th October 2013

Author, writer, storyteller, I suppose they all mean more or less the same thing, but in the case of Michael Morpurgo I would have thought storyteller was the best description. I caught up with him in London this morning and managed to get a few minutes on a very grey day to shoot his hands. With over 140 books to his name Michael is a remarkable storyteller. He began life as a teacher and found his classes so transfixed by his storytelling that he began to write. Most famous of course for War Horse, but his other books have delighted adults and children for decades. His stories encourage children to pick up books and start reading for themselves for the very first time, the most important moment in their literary lives, and a rare and valuable gift to bestow on our future. There are few authors around today who still write all their books in longhand, and it’s not without cost. He has a dodgy shoulder from his many hours of scribbling, but he has tough, and as he puts it, work-a-day hands. He lives on a farm in the countryside and his hands have milked cows, put up fences, chopped down trees and taken all the knocks that a real rural life can throw at them. He’d cut his thumb the day before, but not on his writing hand thankfully. As well as all his writing, he does a lot of work for children (aside from providing them with a rich well of stories to immerse themselves in). A friend of mine’s daughter is true Morpurgo fan, so I took along his latest book and he very kindly wrote a delightful inscription to her. He seemed a genuinely nice man, and, he’ll kill me for this, reminded me uncannily of Jim Broadbent. 140 books written by hand, that’s quite something. I don’t think this is the image I will use in the collection, I just liked the idea of him going back to when he first started reading to children.