Article Posted: November 25, 2009
I’m a bit late to the party, but I had a few images published recently in Sketchbook Magazine. The magazine is based around fashion and design, so there was a certain irony to being contacted by Luma, the features editor about wanting to include some images of mine that I took at the G20 protests in London earlier in the year rather than any of my fashion work which of course is predominantly what I shoot. My shots above are all the B&W images. The 2 colour images shot in Afganistan and Iran are by Hossein Fatemi.
Simon and I decided to go along to protests following all the media attention it was getting prior. Not quite knowing what to expect we turned up with cameras poised to capture the event. Us and a million other photographers and news crews! It almost seemed like there was as many media and photographers than there were protesters. In my opinion, the clashes wouldn’t have been as severe had there not been such a big media presence. It seemed like there was a certain performance aspect to the small group of extremists. Making sure the spotlight was on them before doing anything like smashing into the RBS bank building and attempting to set on fire. Regardless, Simon and I seemed to be right in the thick of it more out of luck than good management. The crowd was very compact and moving around was virtually impossible. So for some clashes to break out between police and protesters right in front of my eyes was quite the experience. At one point I was the target of a swinging police baton and out of instinct, I moved my head to the side to avoid the blow and as the crowd was so tight, the poor guy behind me copped the full impact of the truncheon on the top of his head. I turned around to give some sort of apology and I saw the poor chap holding his head with blood pouring down his face. You can see some of the action in the images above.
Sketchbook is a new quarterly magazine that showcases established and emerging creative talents in fashion, design and culture with a focus on features, photography and illustration. In Sketchbook, it’s not just about the product itself, but also about the beauty of the process of conceptualisation, creation and appreciating the means to an end. To find out a little more head here.
Part 1 & 2 of Sketchbook Magazine can be purchased here. You can also view a free online preview of Part 2 of this issue here.
Article Posted: November 4, 2009
I got to know Kay Desmond originally when she was looking to have some portraits taken of her. I said I would be happy take them on the condition that she let me do a shoot with her fabulous garments that she designed. After a few false starts, we managed to get the fantastic Emma Rice who is represented by Oxygen to model and the über talented and lovely Sandra Bermingham to do hair and makeup, both of whom I hadn’t worked with before. I know Sandra loves getting a scorecard at the end of a shoot, but I will refrain on this occasion and just say that I enjoyed the day and think we got some great results. We were lucky enough to be allowed to shoot in and around the Real Tennis club that is situated in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace thanks to a mum of a friend. It kept us out of the cold and I think proved to be a great backdrop for Kay’s creations. Obviously Kay’s garments are for sale, so give her a nudge if you would like to find out where you can buy one or would like to stock them in your store!
Click on the image above to take you through to see more from the shoot.
Article Posted: October 19, 2009
The good people over at DigitalRev asked if they could do a feature on me and my photography. Who would say no to that?! I think they did a great job and if you fancy having a peek, click on the pic above.
Article Posted: October 14, 2009
I had a great little fashion shoot yesterday. This is a sneak peek of the gorgeous Lilah in action. She’s from Profile Model Management. The shoot is the brainchild of Bijal Patel, or B as we know her… stylist to the stars! All the garments are either black or white. She put together a great collection and Lilah looks fantastic in them.
Make-up was by Laurey Simmons and the hair was by Koji Ichikawa. I hadn’t worked with either Laurey or Koji before and I think they did an amazing job. The mighty Pete aka PedroKid was by my side once more giving me a hand on the day too.
Anyway, just a little taste as I said. More to come from this great series. Click on the pic for a larger view.
Article Posted: October 13, 2009
I haven’t posted a blog for a while as I have been blessed with being quite busy which I certainly can’t complain about. I couldn’t NOT post about this job though. I was invited to shoot Scarlett Gowing’s Spring Summer 2010 collection, and as I shot her SS09 collection and had a blast, I was all too eager to work with her again. Amazing garments and Scarlett knows exactly what she wants to achieve. It’s just up to me to make sure I interpret and capture her vision. This collection is called TMRRWS WRLD 10 and the imagery wanted to evoke feelings of a post apocalyptic existence. Mad Max crossed with Italian Vogue.
The location was far from run of the mill. I can safely say that it was the most challenging and complicated place I have ever shot a fashion story in. It was on an old abandoned building off the shores of a little town called Grain approx 600m into the North Sea. With 11 people on set, getting over there and back proved tricky in itself. At high tide the building was surrounded by 10ft deep waters. Ideally getting out there and back needed to be at low tide. On arrival, thankfully the water had receded, but was coming in very quickly. A quick scramble with as much gear as we could muster (including a portable toilet and the worlds heaviest portable generator) walking over the mossy, muddy track to the building. By the time most of us had reached the destination, the tide had come in enough to cover the remaining 20m of pathway. Being one with wellingtons on, I carried both the make-up artist and the hair stylist the final part to save their shoes getting completely soaked. But we still had more gear to come! A few of us went as quick as we could back to the cars to retrieve the rest, but by the time we were back, over half the path was covered with water. We were prepared though. Josh (Scarlett’s husband) had bought a boat and we quickly loaded everything into the boat and raced down to the water. With 40km winds coming straight off the North Sea, rowing out there was going to be quite the task. I had thankfully brought a complete change of clothes and volunteered to drag the boat with Josh & one of my assistants Pete back over to building. With the wind lashing and the water getting deeper and deeper, we finally managed to get over to the location in one piece. It was then up a rope ladder to the shelter of this amazing abandoned building. Before I had even taken a single frame I was knackered! After a dry off and quick change of clothes though, I was ready explore this building.
Make-up was done by Julia Wilson and Hair by Kunio Kohzaki and they had to brave a freezing cold windy room with limited natural light and a generator that wanted to surge and made using the hair dryer and curling irons (which blew up in the end) more than difficult. The models were both from agencies, I’m not sure where Caroline was from, but Mecia is from Models 1. She also was this years winner of Britain’s Next Top Model for those who watch it. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, what can I say! Both Mecia and Caroline were fantastic, smiling all day despite being freezing for most of it. I was ably assisted by the fabulous Andras & Pete who worked like 1,000 men to make sure we got the best possible shots.
Anyway… we managed to have a great shoot. Never enough time of course and not without its technical difficulties in a place like that, but we got some great stuff which we are still working on to be ready for Scarlett’s launch of the collection in February. In the meantime click on the image above or click here to see a sneak preview of the collection via a fantastic Video montage put together by Josh.
I think I will have to get very far to ever be on a shoot as hardcore as that again. It wasn’t so much a fashion shoot as an adventure! OH&S went completely out the window for a day and we all pulled together to create some cool imagery. My personal thanks goes out to everyone there on the day who sucked it up, got on with it and did the best they could with the extreme circumstances.
Let’s do it all again next season!
