This little story about my vintage urban shoot with Emily continues the Urban Portraits Dumfries project related blog series.
I was in a taxi on the way to Dumfries town centre when I noticed an almost empty parking lot where the only vehicle was a little vintage-looking scooter stationed in front of a flowering dog rose. The gritty plaster work, an exhaust pipe on the wall and an Indian takeaway poster screamed “small town” vibes to me, and the wild rose shrub sprouting a mass of hanging stems sprinkled with pale pink flowers added to the charm of the scene.
I had scouted other Dumfries town centre locations for this shoot previously but Emily had platinum blonde hair and wore a mini skirt and a distinctly vintage make up, Marilyn Monroe winged eyeliner and red lips. I simply had to take her to that parking lot for a warming up segment of our portrait session. I thought that Emily’s face framed by wild roses would look great in headshots too.
The scooter threw a gentle reference to the 1953 Roman Holiday film in which Gregory Peek carried Audrey Hepburn around Rome on a Vespa, and a nod to the 60s subculture where a scooter was an aspirational fashion item or a symbol of licence to late clubbing, after all normal public transport shut down.
