My “flirtation” with glamour photography was short and sweet. It’s a tough business and I would recommend that it should only be contemplated by very experienced photographers. To put it another way – learn to walk before you try and run. You would find yourself selling in an aggressive commercial market and competing with top professionals, many of whom would be household names.

That said, I have to say I rather enjoyed what I did which included a tax-deductible glamour photography seminar on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. So how did I get away with that one ?

It was 1990 and by now my part time photographic business was in full flight. So I wrote to the tax office and explained that I wanted to attend this photographic seminar / training course in Malta and could I record it as a business expense ? What I got back was a brief letter from the taxman saying "yes, that would be perfectly in order".

Interestingly enough, on my arrival in Malta, I discovered that more than half the delegates were already professional photographers. Even then, the remainder were without exception a bunch of very serious amateurs. Surprisingly, none of them had thought to go down the tax deductible expense route that I had taken.

In summary though, if I’m blunt and honest, I didn’t make any money with glamour photography, but it was good fun.

One tip I would give you if you choose to go down this route is "Don't forget the model release forms". Without these you will find it very difficult to sell or publish any images you obtain.

	If you want to find out more about this topic, take a look at the free glamour photography website at : www.glamour-photo.co.uk which includes hints, tips, how to articles, portfolios, gallery and a model directory.

One anecdote I would like to share with you is about the photograph in the top left hand box above which features Jan Jardine. What is not obvious from the shot is that it was taken at the inland sea at Dwejra on the Maltese island of Gozo.

There is a cave that links the inland sea to the Mediterranean Sea and it can be navigated by small boats. While we we shooting, a boat appeared in the mouth of the cave. On seeing the topless Jan ahead of them, the four or five male occupants got rather excited, stood up and started waving and shouting. The net result was that the boat capsized although fortunately no one was hurt.

Looking back, there is something that still amazes me to this day. Despite there being at least a dozen cameras in close proximity, all fully loaded with film and ready to shoot, the majority also being in the hands of professional photographers - while everyone on terra firma had a good laugh at the expense of the soggy sailors, not one shot of the capsizing boat was captured.

Perhaps this is a photographic equivalent of "the one that got away" !