Mishal Husain – The Observer Magazine
Mishal Husain and her mother Shama for the cover of The all-new Observer Magazine. Exciting to be part of the new-era the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. “Is there a term in any language, I wondered, for a place that was nearly your hometown, or could have been, had history not intervened?” Mishal Husain as written for the magazine about her trip to the city of her grandfather’s childhood, Lucknow, a place that he couldn’t visit himself once Pakistan and India were partitioned. I had the absolute pleasure to spend an afternoon with Mishal and her mother to create portraits to go with the article. It is a story hard to tell in a photograph, but I am especially proud of the image on the cover where Mishal and Shama sit with a portrait of her grandfather Shahid. Huge thanks to the amazing team behind the shoot: Alex Ortiz – Photo...
Andy Coulson – The Sunday Times Magazine
Andy Coulson, ex-prisoner, ex-communications director for the Prime Minister, ex-editor of The News Of The World. “There’s something called editoritis. The main symptom is that you believe yourself to be the centre of the world. That everything else revolves around you. And I definitely suffered from editoritis.” It was challenging deciding how to approach photographing Coulson. The phone hacking scandal epitomises the worst of journalism for me, and Coulson was the editor of the newspaper at the heart of it, he was sent to jail because of it. In my mind good journalism is honest, not deceitful, and gives genuine insight, so this is how I tried to approach my meeting with Coulson. I sat and listened to Decca Aitkenhead’s powerful interview technique, and then I sat Coulson down in my makeshift studio. I wanted to capture the man I met: who was he now? Was he remorseful, was he...
17 minutes with Ed Balls – The Sunday Times Magazine
I have always enjoyed meeting interesting people and amazingly my job allows me to do just that – I still can’t believe my luck. Sometimes those people are unknown to most, sometimes they are well known, and sometimes they are people who are very well known for doing the cha cha cha. You see I was given seventeen minutes to meet Ed Balls. Not a huge amount of time, I admit, but enough to get to know the man, just a touch. I love the adrenaline rush I get from high intensity, short shoots. Everything becomes more exciting, more immediate. You have to get the job done, you have to make the most of what you get, and however much you plan you never quite know what’s going to happen. I might dive straight into a deep conversation, find myself getting shouted at down a loud hailer and discover the...
The Dickens Sisters for The Sunday Times Magazine
“Can I dress you up in Dickensian costumes?” “No way! That is taking it too far…” “Go on it will be great fun.” “No, that’s an awful idea.” “Please, I really do think it would look amazing.” “Well… um… maybe…if we were men and not women.” I had had the same conversation with both Sophie and Lucy Dickens separately. Neither of the sisters had been that up for the idea of making the photoshoot all about their great-great-grandfather. However, if we had fun with that idea then why the hell not. So it was a few days later I found myself in Angels costume store, surrounded by Victorian era outfits with two giggling sisters flashing their ankles at me from underneath petticoats and sticking fake moustaches onto each other. Exactly the kind of shoot I love. Lucy and Sophie are impressive artists. Do check out their work on their websites:...
Dr Chris and Dr Xand for The Sunday Times Magazine
“We’ll do anything” That’s the best thing anyone I’m going to photograph can say to me. It is exactly what Dr Chris said to me when I was talking to him about our shoot for The Sunday Times Magazine. Suddenly my mind was overflowing with ideas. I was already excited about my shoot with Dr Chris and his twin brother Dr Xand. They are pretty well known for doing crazy stuff on TV in the name of science. They’ve changed diets, challenged their bodies in various ways and blown up a weeks worth of methane-farts. They bring science to the TV viewing audience in the most fun was possible. Oh, and they also consult with the UN on migration, get called up when Ebola breaks out and are generally very intelligent. “What props can you bring?” I asked. “How about dry ice?” replied Chris, ”or maybe butane gas? If you...
Nigel Farage for The Sunday Times Magazine
There aren’t many people in Britain who’s political views I disagree with more than Nigel Farage. So when The Sunday Times Magazine got in touch asking me to photograph him I was uncertain how best to proceed. A quick google shows many pictures of Mr Farage as a caricature: in a pub, a beer in one hand and a massive laugh on his face. I wanted to do something a bit different and capture the human side of this man. I have never before photographed someone so aware of himself when in front of a camera. Photoshoots are a give and take between photographer and subject, each person pushes the shoot in a different direct. With Mr Farage when I tried to push beyond what he felt was right for his image he politely told me: “I’m not doing that.” But you keep asking, keep trying and eventually you find...
John Hamilton – Independent Saturday Magazine
How many cookbooks have you got? I’ve always thought the collection adorning the shelves in my flat is a pretty good one. Always – that is until I met John Hamilton, the Art Director for Penguin Books. I was asked by The Independent’s Saturday Magazine to photograph John for an article about Penguin’s new publication – 100 Cookbook Covers in One Box. John has been collecting cookbooks ever since he was in charge of designing Jamie Oliver’s first Naked Chef book. Fast forward fifteen years and John now has over a thousand cookbooks at home. No surprise then that I was rather excited to see his amalgamation of cookery design from across the world. John welcomed me in his home in Lewes and soon we were deep in cookbook design conversation. My portrait idea was to make the most of the sheer quantity of the books and surround John with...
Sugru on the Ceiling
Some ideas shout to me as a photographer, and when I was asked to photograph Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh the idea that shouted loudest was to stick her to the ceiling. Jane is the founder of Sugru, a company who make a soft rubber substance that sticks to anything. It is good in the heat and fine in the freezer, and is designed to help you repair, customise and make better the things around you. Unfortunately it isn’t quite strong enough to actually hold someone on the ceiling, and more to the point the paint that it would be stuck to certainly wouldn’t be. However, it probably isn’t far off being strong enough but I did not want to risk it. Here is a behind the scenes video from the day and a few more images from the shoot… A massive thanks to all at the British Airways magazine Business Life for commissioning...
Savile Row Tailors
Photography has given me access to many places I would never be able to go otherwise. A great example of this was a recent commission to photograph three fantastic gents who work on Savile Row. The Mayfair Resident asked me to capture a group image of three tailors from different companies on the street. I of course jumped at the chance – and made the most of it. Instead of just turning up, taking the group shot and leaving I chose to contact each of the gentlemen myself and arrange to shoot them separately as well as in the group. This lead to a rather mad day (with another shoot in the early morning as well) where I dragged my kit around Savile Row and got to see many fascinating things. All three of the tailors were exceptionally approachable and fun gents, I can imagine it being the most awesome experience getting a suit...