David Woolway

A photographer will be making people look good enough to eat for a shoot with a difference.

David Woolway, 29, of Old Headington, Oxford, is working on a series of photographs exploring the themes of fantasy, eroticism and indulgence.

He has been shooting models covered from head to toe in mud and custard and is now recruiting people for his next shoot with chocolate.

Mr Woolway, a fashion, wedding and fine art photographer, said he got the idea after a friend, looking at a photograph of a muddy bog, remarked that she would like to jump into it.

He said: "I like to create portraits that are experimental.

"I like the idea of causing people to be quite astonished by it and to challenge their ideas about beauty.

"We are very constrained by clothes and staying clean, but I want to give people the option of trying something more extravagant and indulgent.

"It's a bit like buying a Vivienne Westwood dress instead of going to Gap."

In one photograph, taken in Port Meadow, a partly-dressed woman covered to her neck in mud looks up at the camera, while another features a face almost entirely obscured by yellow custard.

Mr Woolway said he had no set ideas about what he wanted from the chocolate shoot.

He said: "It's very much down to what the model would like to do and what their ideas are. It's very much a two-way thing."

He has already had 15 responses to an advert he placed for models and he said he would be choosing suitable candidates shortly.

They will be entirely covered in chocolate sauce, including their hair, before being photographed at David's home.

He eventually hopes to include the pictures in a book of his photography.

Mr Woolway's work, which has been published in magazines including Vogue and Harpers & Queen, is usually of a more conventional nature and his portfolio includes weddings, portraiture and work for fashion designers.

But he said: "I have my own particular style and am always looking for new ideas and a fresh approach."

Mr Woolway moved to Oxford in 2001, after completing a photography degree at Bournemouth Arts Institute, and has exhibited in local venues including St Edwards School, Summertown and Baby, in Cowley Road. His next exhibition will be in Freuds, Walton Street, in December.

He said it was a great city to work in: "There's lots of interesting people around to photograph and is there was a wedding capital of the country, Oxford would be it."

For more information, visit his website www.shootmesenseless.com

8:30am Tuesday 28th March 2006

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