Barrowlands

A Decade with Jill Jackson

In August 2010 I had my first photoshoot with Jill Jackson. I was working as a graphic designer at The Print Box at the time, and Jill was one of our clients. I worked on various posters and an EP for her and struck an e-mail friendship with Jill’s assistant at the time. I noticed that they kept using the same images for promo so I thought “what the hell” and suggested taking new photos of Jill. If they like them - great; if not, it would still be a great experience for me. I’ve been taking pictures since I was a kid, it’s always been a hobby of mine, so I sent a few examples of my past work and awaited a response. Luckily, Jill liked what she saw and agreed to do a session with me.

The first time Jill and I met in person was at King Tut’s where she was playing a gig. I didn’t really know what to expect from Jill or her music, but as I stood there watching her perform I could feel myself getting increasingly excited at the prospect of photographing her - you can’t fake that kind of stage presence and charisma. And I loved the songs too. We had a brief chat after the show and a week later we were doing the shoot.

A good friend of mine had a beautiful old house with a garden in Mount Vernon and that’s where that first session took place. My partner was helping with the lights and the three of us quickly bonded over our love for music and Kath & Kim (“Look at moiye, look at mooooiye!”). It marked the beginning of a years-long friendship and numerous other collaborations followed. We shot everywhere and all sorts; from abandoned jails to being knee-deep in freezing Loch Lomond; from album and magazine covers to concerts and music videos. Unwittingly, that first session with Jill would also be the start of my photography career as my work with her lead to commissions from other artists. In four years I would leave The Print Box to become a full-time photographer.

Whether there’s still a photography career for me to come back to after this pandemic remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, I thought it would be nice to celebrate this 10-year landmark by posting an image from every session/collaboration I’ve done with Jill so far - there are live shots (hers was the very first concert I ever photographed), some behind the scenes photos as well as outtakes and images that haven’t been published anywhere till now.

I need to come clean here though - a few of the earlier photos have been re-edited. There was some bad retouching and heavy-handed colour treatments that I couldn’t look at now. You live, you learn!

Which image is your favourite? Perhaps you attended some of the gigs? Let me know and enjoy:

“My Baby” music video, May 2018.

“Goodbye” music video, January 2019.

Are We There Yet?

Are We There Yet?” is the title of Jill Jackson’s most recent album. It was released in May last year and I was responsible for shooting publicity images for it, documenting the recording process as well as filming music videos for the first two singles, “My Baby” and “Goodbye”. The photoshoot took place on a cold winter day in December 2017 in Glasgow’s Charing X area, Kelvingrove Park and my flat. It was freezing but Jill is a trooper and this shoot was, quite literally at points, a walk in the park in comparison to some of our previous endeavours (for “The Ones That Got Away” album cover for example, I had her standing knee-deep in ice cold Loch Lomond waters in November).

“My Baby” music video was filmed backstage at the Barrowlands as well as during album’s launch night at Saint Luke’s while “Goodbye” was filmed in WEST On The Green and Glasgow Green. By the way, the album itself is brilliant so go get yourself a copy.

 

“Are We There Yet?” Promo shoot:

Recording process (at Kyoti Recording Studio):

Barrowlands dressing room during the filming of "My Baby" music video:

Album Launch at Saint Lukes:

GEAR:
Nikon D4
Nikon D700
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8
Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8
Nikon SB-5000 Speedlight
Neewer 120cm Octabox
Reflector


PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceiver
PocketWizard MiniTT1 Transmitter 

Videos filmed with Sony A7III + Sony 35mm f1.8
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Metabones Nikon G to Sony NEX E-mount Converter
Zhiyun Crane 2 Gimbal
Edited in FCPX

2013 Round Up

2013 was a strange year for me. A lot of changes, some life-changing decisions, a few very fortunate encounters and lots of work. All in all not a bad one just a bit strange on both, personal and professional level. So here we are now, in 2014. I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions (I know myself all too well to pretend I'd ever stick to any of them) but I do like to look back at the previous 12 months every January. We've got this ritual in my household where on New Year's Eve we try to list the high points of the passing year and I would recommend this to everyone. It somehow makes you feel that little bit more optimistic at the dawn of new annum once you realise that there were good things that happened even in the shittiest of years. Now don't worry, I will spare you my list, what I will do instead is share some of my shots from 2013 that I'm particularly proud of for one reason or another:

And since we're summarising 2013 I will indulge a bit and make a list of music that I happened to fancy last year. Feel free to shrug your shoulders, raise your eyebrows and comment on my choices:

ALBUMS OF '13

Beyoncé BEYONCÉ 

Lorde Pure Heroine 

Janelle Monáe The Electric Lady 

Hot Natured Different Sides of the Sun 

Daft Punk Random Access Memories 

Horse Home 

Little Mix Salute 

Goldfrapp Tales of Us 

Morcheeba Head Up High 

Blood Orange Cupid Deluxe

SONGS OF '13

Lorde Royals 

Daft Punk Get Lucky 

Destiny's Child Nuclear 

Hot Natured Alternate State (feat. Róisin Murphy) 

Little Boots Motorway 

Miley Cyrus We Can't Stop 

Petula Clark Cut Copy Me 

Naughty Boy La La La (feat. Sam Smith) 

Rhye Open 

Sky Ferreira Everything Is Embarrassing