IT'S slightly strange looking at yourself across the top of one of Colchester's most iconic buildings.

Since the series of Andy Warhol-inspired colourful photographs went up, I've already been spotted several times, with my nephews proudly posting on Facebook that their Uncle Neil has finally found fame at last.

The reason my grinning mug, along with numerous other Colchester people, is above the entrance to the Firstsite is down to Colchester photographer Sally Parkinson who cornered me more than a month ago while I was interviewing someone at the Colchester gallery.

Willing to take part, in my own small way, I wasn't quite expecting how large the resulting image would be.

So while I'm enjoying my own little 15 minutes of fame, I thought it was only fair the photographer responsible for the pictures should have a little bit of fame thrown her way as well.

This new installation of her photographs was the idea of the team at Firstsite, who commissioned Sally to take people's portraits and then give them a touch of colour for that Warhol effect.

Sally says: "I got a call from Firstsite who asked me to come in and do some portrait photographs. I had no idea how big it was eventually going to be so I was just chatting and interacting with people to get the most natural portrait I could.

"Then I had a chat with Firstsite to see what we could do to give them a flavour of Warhol and they helped with the colour tones. I've never done anything like this before in production and I've learnt so much but I'm absolutely delighted with the results.

"On the opening night someone asked me what it felt like to be Andy Warhol's warm-up act and I can tell you it's rather special, especially in my tenth year of being a professional photographer."

Born and brought up in Colchester, Sally first went to Lexden Primary before going to the Philip Morant School, and it was there that she first got her taste of photographic success.

"If someone had really dragged it out of me," she adds, "I would have definitely said I would like to be a photographer or a BBC cameraman but it just wasn't really possible.

"My father was a keen photographer and encouraged me to enter the school photography competition which I won. I took it on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition and it was a shot of one of my teachers with their head sticking out of a tent.

"I had a little compact camera which my dad got for me but he was always nagging at me because I was costing him so money in film."

When Sally left school she applied to do hotel management at the Colchester Institute, which led to a life in hotels all over the country and eventually a job on a cruise ship as a purser.

"It was a standing joke among the crew," she smiles, "that I would have my camera with me at all times just in case a good photo opportunity might arise, especially when there were whales to spot.

"I was there to see a bit of the world and so it would be a little odd if I didn't take lots of pictures. As well as the cruise, I spent a year in New Zealand so I have albums full of pictures from that time."

Eventually Sally returned home 'just because of my roots really' and started working in the events side of hospitality.

"It couldn't have been a more perfect way to finally get into professional photography," Sally explains. "If you're going to take photos at a party then you need to get to know all the different people involved like the catering staff, people behind the bar, and that's what I did when I was doing events."

Ten years ago Sally finally decided to take the plunge and launch her business, mainly concentrating on family portraits and nurseries, but it's as the photographer of choice for the local arts scene that Sally is perhaps best known for these days.

"After I did my hotel management course," she begins, "I got a job in Norfolk and that's when I fancied having a go at the theatre, really as a way of meeting people but because I quite liked it as well.

"When I moved back I joined the Clacton Amateur Dramatic Society. I think a certain play that I wanted to be in caught my eye and I did a few more after that."

Since then Sally has appeared in a number of productions at the Headgate Theatre in Colchester including Calendar Girls and most recently Stepping Out, where she had to learn how to tap dance.

"I started taking photos for a couple of groups and it escalated from there," she says. "I do the Colchester Operatic and CO2 each year, the photographs for Headgate Productions and the Colchester Theatre Group as well as more recently, the plays at the Manifest Theatre in Manningtree."

Artists Rooms: Andy Warhol runs at the Firstsite Gallery, Colchester, until June 12.

For more information, visit firstsite.uk.net or call 01206 577067.

Andy Warhol was one of the most influential artists of all time and in collaboration with Artist Rooms, the Firstsite exhibition brings together some of his most notable drawings, silkscreen paintings, photographs, films, posters, prints and installations.

As the founder of Pop art, Warhol was a visionary, still influencing much of our relationship to celebrity and culture today. Through experimentation and collaboration, he had a profound impact on his adopted city of New York and later the entire world.

Artist Rooms is jointly owned by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland and was established through the d’Offay Donation in 2008, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments.

In homage to his great spirit, Firstsite has turned over all of its spaces to emerging artists to explore his legacy.

As well as Sally Parkinson's photographs, they include Hattie Stewart, who is originally from Colchester but is now based in London.

She explores our collective fascination with celebrity and youth culture as portrayed through the media with her unique tongue-in-cheek manipulation of magazine covers which she calls “doodle-bombing”.

Also showing her work is textile designer, Camille Walala who specialises in transforming spaces with a vibrant blend of colour and pattern. Seen in venues and adorning buildings across London, Sydney, New York and beyond, her designs may be influenced by Pop Art but her gleefully asymmetric patterns and eye-popping approach to colour are entirely her own.