Basement 49

Crawford Mack

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Portrait shoot with Crawford Mack

I met Crawford Mack a few years ago when a friend took me to see him live at the legendary King Tuts in Glasgow. I didn’t know much about him but as it turns out, he’s a very talented singer/songwriter with great stage presence. We chatted briefly after the gig and I left thinking it would be great to work together at some point. The opportunity came about last year when Crawford got in touch to get some new promo shots done. We spent a couple of hours at Basement49 and below are some of my favourite images from that session:

GEAR
Nikon Z8
Nikkor Z 85mm f1.2
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter
Profoto B10
Profoto A10
Profoto OCF Softbox 3' Octa
Profoto OCF Magnum Reflector
Profoto Clic Softbox Octa 2’
Reflector

Fashion Editorial with Barbra

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FASHION EDITORIAL WITH BARBRA

I’ve known designer Barbara for a few years now. We’ve collaborated on several occasions (here for example) and became friends along the way. Earlier this year I decided to carve out a day every month for personal, creative work where I invite various people to collaborate and take some photos just for fun. It allows me to experiment, and try things I don’t get to do with paid clients. It also gets me excited about photography again. Barbra’s been on the list of prospective collaborations for this and lucky for me she was up for having some photos taken. We shot a lot with hard light that day, something I’ve always been scared of but I am scared of it no more thanks to how this shoot turned out. We were going for retro vibes - some Old Hollywood, some 1980s. Have a look below.

Hair, Make Up & Styling: Michelle Watson
Studio: Basement49

GEAR
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter
Profoto A1 x 2
Profoto B10
120cm Octabox
Softbox 3' Octa
Softgrid Octa
Reflector

Emma Dunlop

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Editorial shoot with singer songwriter Emma Dunlop

I met Emma Dunlop when she came to the opening of my exhibition Women At COP26 last autumn but actually, as it turned out, I photographed her many years ago as part of The Kennedy Cupcakes dance troupe at a corporate event in Glasgow. We chatted very briefly at the launch and I remember thinking it would be great to photograph her at some point. We managed to make it happen last month when we spent a day in a studio with a small, yet brilliant team, trying different things and just having fun. We wanted a lot of shadows, shapes, androgyny, oversized suits and playing with the ideas of masculine and feminine. I never shoot with hard light, like ever, so this was something new for me to try as most set ups we prepared for this session were all about hard lighting. See our initial references below as well as a few of the final images.

Hair, Make Up & Styling: Michelle Watson
Assistance: Jack Thomson
Studio: Basement49

Visual References

Behind the Scenes (taken by Jack Thomson):

GEAR
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter
Profoto B10
Profoto A1
Profoto OCF Softbox 3' Octa

Profoto OCF Beauty Dish White 2'

Neewer 120cm Octabox
Reflector

Agnieszka Opiola

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Portrait session with violinist Agnieszka Opiola

I met Agniszeka Opiola, a brilliant performance violinist, while we worked together on an opera project for NOISE. We struck a relationship that continued beyond the opera and eventually Agnieszka approached me last year to do some promotional images for her. We spent a few hours at Basement49 studio last March blasting Chopin (See? It isn’t only 90s R&B and Madonna with me…), chatting and taking photos, of course. Have a look at a select few below.

Big thanks to Greta Kalva for assistance on the day.

GEAR
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter
Profoto B10 + Profoto OCF Softbox 3' Octa
Reflector