Overexposure

‘AS befits her position as one of the world’s top photographers, Penny Lancaster has been seeing a lot of the camera recently.

Penny was training to be an Olympic swimmer

But if OK! caught her by surprise dressed only in her bra and knickers when it dropped in, Hello! gives her time to get properly dressed before being given the guided tour of the palatial Beverley Hills mansion she shares with Rod Stewart.

We all know that Penny is much happier on the other side of the camera, her work having appeared in countless family photo albums and the occasional picture frame.

But she has a fitness video to promote and so reluctantly swaps roles and agrees to pose for Hello! photographer Robert Gallagher while pouring her heart out to Hello! hack Sue Russell.

It is not an easy transition for a woman as shy as Penny.

‘People think that because I’m tall, attractive and do modelling [surely you mean photography – Ed], I must be very confident,’ she says.

‘But inside I’m always worried about what other people think, although I know that it’s what the people closest to you think that is most important.’

But at the age of 32, Penny’s come out of her shell enough to take another of her rare breaks from behind the camera to star in her own fitness video.

How did that come about, you ask. Well, it all stems back to yet another of those very rare occasions when Penny was to be found in her underwear at the unfamiliar end of the lens.

‘I think the Ultimo underwear campaign drew people’s attention to my figure,’ she says, ‘and got them wondering about my fitness secrets.’

Indeed, we here at Anorak have thought of little else since we first saw Penny in her smalls.

‘Beyond the financial thing, it’s so important to wake up in the morning and have a purpose,’ she adds.

‘Photography and fitness inspire me. If I couldn’t be creative and share that excitement with other people, it would be a pretty dull life.

‘It’s important to develop your own personality.’

And a couple of pictures along the way.’

Posted: 22nd, October 2003 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink