writer – John McRae Photography & Studio

Acclaimed author Blanche d’Alpuget recently stepped into my Sydney studio to create new imagery for promotion aligned to the release of her latest novel, “The Bunny Club”.

What an absolute joy it was to work with this gorgeous and intelligent lady. We were shooting a variety of portraits and basic head-shots, so we concentrated on changing what she was wearing, alternating the colours of her outfits.

Blanche arrived having had her hair already styled by Ivan Chircop, owner of “La Libertine Hair Salon” in the CBD. The next step was for David Cranson (MUA) to take care of her makeup.

Left to right: Ivan (Hair), Blanche and David (Makeup)

Before long we were ready to set about shooting under the lights. Blanche was a wonderful model … professional and willing to duplicate any suggestion I had in terms of pose and mood. Time passed quickly and soon we had a number of looks and configurations from which to choose.

Blanche’s literary repertoire is extensive. There have been biographies, novels, essays and numerous awards. Her best-selling 1982 book Robert J Hawke: A Biography, researched and written after they were no longer a couple, won the New South Wales Premier’s literary award and it remains the definitive work on the former Australian Prime Minister. Her novels Monkeys in the Dark, Turtle Beach, Winter in Jerusalem and White Eye have won the Pen Golden Jubilee award, the Age novel of the year award and the South Australian Premier’s award. She has also written historical novels about Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The Bunny Club is something a bit different: a racy detective novel set in the harbourside glass castles of Sydney’s eastern suburbs and at the equestrian estates of the southern highlands. It opens when an ageing morning television host who is fighting to keep her job, Evelyn Sinclair, is found dead at an astoundingly grisly crime scene: hanging upside down from the ceiling, tied-up using shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage.

I have almost finished reading my copy of Blanche’s book. The novel was launched at the Manly Writers Festival on the last weekend in March. It is available in most bookstores or can be ordered on-line at this link:

Review: The Guardian

Promotional image of Blanche d'Alpuget for the release of her new novel, The Bunny Club

PierFrancesco – Italian author and part-time Trastevere local

PierFrancesco Grasselli is a Rome-based author/novelist and local personality in the charming inner city locality of Trastevere (note: Tevere, is the Italian name of the river that runs through Rome; we call it the “Tiber” and “tras” is the prefix for across) which not surprisingly is the area “across the river”, at the level of the Ponte Sisto. Trastevere is a vibrant meeting place for young and old, with wall-to-wall restaurants and bars. During most evenings the streets are teaming with people.

I was staying with my friend Jonathan, an Australian who has lived in Rome forever. He happens to have the most magnificent terrace overlooking Trastevere and the many churches and cupolas of the inner city (not to mention he is an amazing cook, his table being one of the best in Rome). A perfect backdrop for a portrait shoot.

With his tongue-in-cheek, PierFrancesco Grasselli’s books and self-proclaimed trash novels include All’Inferno ci vado in Porsche (“I’m going to Hell in a Porsche”), Ho Scaricato Miss Italia (“I Dumped Miss Italy”) and his erotic autobiography I Maschilisti (“The Male Chauvinists”).

The weather was great. I used natural light to shoot PierFrancesco. The set-up was very simple and basic – sometimes this is all that is necessary.

Tag: writer

Blanche d’Alpuget launches her latest novel, “The Bunny Club”.

A Roman terrace, a portrait shoot and an immaculate view of the Eternal City