Behind the scenes at the BAFTA Television Awards 2017
The telephone rings… “would you like to shoot the BAFTA Television Awards this year Charlie?” I’ve never done anything like that before… but when they said they were giving me free reign to photograph it however I liked I couldn’t really say no, could I? I mean, who turns down a free pass to the biggest night of the TV year? Bring it on. Cue hours of running up and down staircases, getting soaked through on the red carpet, battling with no light backstage, guessing if I should hit the green room or the wings, and trying to find the perfect angle on Joan Collins. So much fun. Massive thanks to Claire for trusting me to take my own approach. Can I come back next year please? p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}
Women in the Forces for The Sunday Times Magazine
It was only after the helicopter had flown away that it really hit me. I had been lying on the grass with my camera photographing the underside of the aircraft hovering just metres above me. My focus was on getting the shot and I didn’t have time to be frightened… I was photographing women who have worked in war zones, on or beyond the front line – a medic who’s been in firefights with the Taliban, a Merlin pilot trained to survive when shot down in enemy territory, and a Chinook winch operator who’s flown all over Afghanistan. For the first time women are being allowed to train as foot soldiers, placed on the front line to fight the enemy. We were there to meet some of the women who have already been over that line but in other roles in the forces. It was amazing hearing their stories and...
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...
Shirin Ebadi and Nargess Tavassolian for The Sunday Times Magazine
I always do my research before photographing someone and occasionally people’s life stories blow me away. But none more so than Shirin Ebadi. A woman who has tirelessly devoted her life to the defence of others, in particular those threatened by her home country’s regime. She is the winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts towards democracy and human rights and has had to live in exile since 2009. Her daughter Nargess Tavassolian has followed her path and is now a human rights lawyer as well. I photographed them together for the Sunday Times Magazine. Read the article here: LINK
Lynn Barber for The Sunday Times Magazine
What do you get when you combine one journalist, four grandkids and five sticks of candy floss… beautiful chaos. I was asked to photograph the journalist Lynn Barber for The Sunday Times Magazine. She is supposed to stop smoking and clean up her act when the grandchildren come to stay. But there’s no chance, she says. Have a read here: LINK Huge thanks to Lynn and her family for being fully on board with my ideas – it was wonderful messing about in Brighton with you.
10 years of Premier Skills exhibition – Collaboration takes you further
It has been two years since I approached the Premier League with an idea to photograph their fans around the world. I had gone out of the blue to pitch the idea to them, something I had never done before. As a photographer there is often a separation between commissioned work and personal work but occasionally the two come together and beautiful things occur. Thankfully the Premier League were interested, better than that they brought a whole new element to the project that I didn’t expect and made it far stronger. That was why I was running down a Soweto street with ten kids and an old football trying to photograph them in the last of the evening light. These kids can go up the road after school to train with some of the best coaches in South Africa. As part of the Premier Skills program run by the British...
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:...
Don’t take a picture, give it – Help Portrait at The Passage
Don’t take a photo, give it. That’s the motto of the Help Portrait movement. Founded in the USA but taken up by people around the world it has become a way for the photography community to give back and use their talents to help others. A photoshoot is a wonderful way of paying attention to someone in a very personal way and making them feel significant. It’s also a great fun experience and the memories from it can last a lifetime. The Passage is London’s largest charity helping and guiding homeless and vulnerable people everyday. We wanted to give our time to those people who are often ignored by society and leave them with an experience to remember – as well as some great photos. So we descended on the center in Victoria and set up a full photo studio inside. Every person to step in front of my camera...
Caught in the moment – Middlesbrough’s promotion to the Premier League
Everyone knew that the moment the final whistle went the crowd would go insane. The pitchside security had given up trying to control them. I waited, crouched behind the goal eager to capture the moment. The whistle went. One person made a jump for the barrier. Then another. Two more. Then a tsunami of fans poured onto the pitch. Grown men crying. People screaming with happiness. Euphoria took over the air as Middlesbrough celebrated. I had been chosen by the Premier League to capture the feelings of the final match of the season. My brief was to watch the crowd and photograph them. It’s the strangest way to be in a stadium – you don’t know what’s happening on the pitch, but you do know the emotions of the people around you intimately. Every movement watched intensely, every goal a triumph, every miss a tragedy. I finished the night standing...
BAFTA Breakthrough Brits 2016
“Don’t ask me about apple pie… it’s a bit too personal” When you have to spend two days photographing the best of the best in new talent you don’t quite know what to expect. It turns out that you can discover some of their more intimate secrets. Did you know that Malachi Kirby is almost romantic about his love for apple pie? Florence Pugh on the other hand has a thing for the taste of unripe bananas. And there’s nothing like dancing with Kayode Ewumi. Not only can he move his hips in an alluring manner, but he also very good at playing air guitar whilst winking at the camera. He really is a flirt, as were a lot of the BAFTA Breakthrough Brits to be honest. BAFTA asked me to photograph their new team of Breakthrough Brits. Selected by a star-studded jury this group of talented people from the TV,...