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| Harriet and Gentleman Jack |
Photographer Jooney Woodward created this portrait of 13-year-old Harriet Power in the guinea pig appraisal area of the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd, Wales — the largest agricultural show in Europe.
“I found her image immediately striking with her long, red hair and white stewarding coat,” Woodward says. “She is holding her own guinea pig called Gentleman Jack, named after the Jack Daniel’s whiskey box in which he was given to her. Using natural light from a skylight above, I took just three frames and this image was the first.”
The photographer used a Mamiya RZ medium format camera. “I don’t mess around with Photoshop so what you see is what you get,” she explains. “Enhanced images can portray a false sense of reality, whereas my work celebrates the people and places as they appear every day.”
I’m not alone in being captivated by Woodward’s photography. Harriet and Gentleman Jack has been fortunate to be included in The Art of Photography Show 2012 at the San Diego Art Institute and was the 2011 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize winner at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
I am drawn to this series in particular because of my love of animals, including my Welsh Terrier, Stig. Harriet’s crimson locks and her guinea pig’s coppery fur remind me of Stig’s reddish wire-hair coat. Further, I often find myself fantasizing about Wales and wondering about Stig’s roots. Jooney’s images open a contemporary window into a centuries-old agricultural landscape. The photographs are compassionately and graphically composed, making them highly gratifying and memorable for me.
Below are additional photographs from the series at the Royal Welsh Show.
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| Cynan and Gwion |
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| Sheeptacular |
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| In the Fur and Feather Pavilion |
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| Welsh and Any Other Modern Breed of Pigs |
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| Fred jooneywoodward.co.uk |
