Jo Marsh
Jo Marsh – the winemaker and founder of the Billy Button wine business – is a force of nature, a force of good, and a force of great wine. Her generosity, spirit, excellence and energy knows no bounds, in the best of ways. As one of her winemaking colleagues once said to me, “she’d give you the shirt off her back”. She’s widely admired and widely respected, as a general statement, but her wines in the glass are both these things too. Every Billy Button wine is worth buying, worth drinking and worth savouring.
When I was first getting in to photography, Jo Marsh invited me to her winery. She wanted to show me her wines and I was grateful for that. But she also knew that I’d like the opportunity to take some pics, and to practice ‘portrait’ photography. That is, she tried to help me out, which is so very Jo Marsh. I can’t think of any other winemaker who would make the same connection, and/or offer the same help.
As it turns out, I love this image. I didn’t really know what I was doing as a photographer at the time but I love the result, love the light, love the calm strength, and love the Beethoven t-shirt – the latter of which seems so very apt for a portrait of the creative whirlwind that is Jo Marsh.
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This image was taken on a Fujifilm X-T3 camera with a Fujifilm 35mm f1.4 lens, taken at f2.2. I’ve gone through a lot of cameras since, but I still have the X-T3, and still have the 35mm f1.4 to go with it. It’s a camera combo with character, which is why I maintain such an affection for it.
