Christine Bovill

Best of 2022 + Interview

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2022 Summary

This has been a rather strange year. When I sat down to compile my favourite images from the past 12 months, I felt quite dispirited when it comes to my work - nothing major, just slightly blah. And then it turned out I struggled to whittle down my selection to only 12 photos, it would appear I’ve actually done more interesting work than I gave myself credit for. Perhaps it’s just winter blues.

The main event of 2022 when it comes to my work was undoubtedly the Women At COP26 exhibition. It was quite an undertaking, a huge learning curve and something I’m very proud of. While its run at Trongate 103 finished at the end of October, it has now found a new home at Skypark in Finnieston where it will officially launch in January (albeit in a slightly abridged version). So there’s something to look forward to in the New Year, never a bad thing.

INTERVIEW - THE BRAW & THE BRAVE PODCAST

In other news, I was recently interviewed for The Braw & The Brave, Lisa Kennedy’s award-winning podcast about creative people and their passions. If you fancy listening to me talk about my work, discussing imposter syndrome and how I take my porridge in the morning among other earth-shattering revelations, click here to listen on Apple Podcasts or stream below via Soundcloud:

Anyway, back to 2022 summary - here’s my favourite dozen. Enjoy and let me know what you think:

And here’s what I’ve been obsessed with musically in 2022:

ALBUMS OF 2022
Renaissance Beyoncé
Yours Aye Jill Jackson
Motomami Rosalía
Dawn FM The Weeknd
Midnights Taylor Swift
Dirt Femme Tove Lo
Gemini Rights Steve Lacy
Angels & Queen Part 1 Gabriels
Blue Lawns The Great Yawn
Prism Say She She

SONGS OF 2022
Bad Habits Steve Lacy
Anti-Hero Taylor Swift
Baby Chicken Jill Jackson
Cosy Beyoncé
No One Dies From Love Tove Lo
Hung Up On Tokischa Madonna & Tokischa
Leaving Horse
Better Man Say She She
As It Was Harry Styles
Holy Hell Eddie Chacon

FujiFilm x100v

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Thoughts on FujiFilm X100v Camera

My name is Kris and I am a lazy photographer. What I mean by that is that I’ve never been the type of photographer who carries a camera everywhere they go, taking pictures of anything and everything. I’ve always admired such people, I’m just not one of them. I value comfort and practicality above all else. See? Lazy. When I started taking photos, it was with a Zenit 11 and that camera is built like a Soviet tank, not exactly a “throw-in-your-pocket” type of equipment (although it could certainly double as a weapon if one had to defend themselves). In recent years, with photography becoming my full-time job, I’ve worked with various Nikon DSLRs - D700, D4, D850 - but these are expensive cameras to be carrying around and not exactly light or compact either. I’ve realised, however, that I missed taking snaps of my friends or of places I was visiting. I’d usually use my iPhone for that but it never feels right for me, no matter how great the phone cameras are these days. And this is what brought me to the FujiFilm x100 series.

I’d been watching various YouTube videos about these cameras, reading reviews, checking prices on eBay, and last year I eventually bit the bullet and bought the then recently released x100v model. First of all, it’s beautiful. I often feel that in the digital age the aesthetics of a camera are the last to be considered. I realise that what a camera looks like isn’t of utmost importance for most, and I’m not too bothered about it either when it comes to the equipment I use for work (the Nikons aren’t exactly ugly but they won’t be winning beauty contests anytime soon). However, if I’m going to carry a camera with me every day, I want it to be compact, practical, and, yes - pretty. And the old-school, analog-borrowed look of the whole x100 series is really lovely (I went for the silver model). As for the performance, I’ve been shooting with x100v for almost a year now, always have it in my bag, and I really love it - it definitely exceeded my expectations when it comes to image quality and it also brought back the joy of taking photos just for fun, without overthinking. I’ve got it set on Aperture priority and don’t worry about much else. I mainly use it for personal things: meeting friends, traveling, behind the scenes, etc, but I’ve also occasionally taken it out on work shoots and ended up with decent results. All in all, I’m super happy with it, and here are some examples of snaps I’ve taken with the FujiFilm x100v so far:

New Year, New Decade

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I thought to myself, does anyone want to read another post from a stranger writing about what this past decade meant to them? Probably not. You’ve been warned then, and can just scroll down to the pretty pictures cause I’m diving in!

I don’t know why we feel compelled as humans to do these end-of-year/decade/whatever lists but for me, there can be something comforting about it. My memory is pretty crap and I tend to forget the bad things that happen to me quite quickly, or at least I can’t recall the details so their impact is diminished. I therefore focus on the positives and it always ends up being a hopeful exercise - cause if you can find something good in the past year for example, no matter how challenging it might’ve been overall, chances are there’s more good to come in the 12 months ahead

So 2019 was definitely a strange one - a lot of soul searching, figuring out myself and what I want from life and my career. I took up horse riding which I’m thoroughly enjoying, started meditating (thus becoming the kind of person I would roll my eyes at only five years ago) and reconnected with some old friends. The main event however was my first solo exhibition. It took months of preparations and help from a lot of people as well as shitloads of anxiety but it couldn’t have gone better in the end and its reception was beyond anything I could’ve hoped for.

As for 2010s, it was a decade of some big personal decisions like leaving my job to become a full time photographer and buying a flat with my partner. But when I look back at it, it’s actually the people who stand out more than anything. The friendships and connections I made, something that came as a surprise byproduct of what I do but that is definitely one of the nicest, most rewarding things about my job.

Here’s to 2020 and to the new decade then. Leaving you with some of my favourite shots from last year (I did toy with the idea of compiling a ‘best of the decade’ selection but the task seems way too daunting just now):

SONGS OF 2019
Bad Guy Billie Eilish
Crave Madonna
Juice Lizzo
Like Sugar Chaka Khan
Don’t Start Now Dua Lipa
Adore You Harry Styles
Late Night Feelings Mark Ronson
Ass Like That Victoria Monét
Don’t Call Me Up Mabel
Scandalous Camille Trust

ALBUMS OF 2019
Madame X Madonna
Late Night Feelings Mark Ronson
When We All Fall Asleep… Billie Eilish
Ventura Anderson Paak
New Breed Dawn Richard
Cuz I Love You Lizzo
Kiwanuka Michael Kiwanuka
Fine Line Harry Styles
Norman F*****g Rockwell! Lana Del Rey
Sault 5

Christine Bovill Album Promo

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I've written about working with Christine Bovill, the chanteuse supreme, on a couple of occasions (here and here) but we actually go way back. When I was a student in the early 2000s, I used to work at this Italian coffee shop in Finnieston called Espresso. Christine may be best known for singing in French but she also has a soft spot for all things Italian and was a frequent visitor at the café as she lived nearby (she named her debut album Derby Street after all). Eventually, I quit that job, Christine moved flats and we lost touch for a decade or so until we bumped into each other at a function in the summer of 2013 (she was singing, I was taking pictures). After so many years it took us a while to figure out how we knew each other but it eventually clicked - Espresso! What followed was not only a brilliant working relationship but also a treasured friendship.

When Christine Bovill was getting ready to release her sophomore album The Sentence That I Serve, I was brought on board to oversee the whole visual side of the project - from photographing the recording process as well as the single/album covers to designing the CD packaging and finally filming the EPK. It was a lot of work but I couldn't have been happier to be involved.

EPK Video:

Recording/Rehearsals (with The Strange Blue Dreams):

Single Cover Shoot:

Album Cover Shoot:

Hello 2016!

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Welcome to 2016. So here we go - Happy New Year to you all. I'm in a much calmer and happier place this January than the year before and am truly looking forward to the coming 12 months. In the meantime, here are some of my favourite shots from the year past:

David Eustace, Photographer | January 2015
David Eustace, Photographer | January 2015
Skerryvore, Live at the Old Fruitmarket | January 2015
Skerryvore, Live at the Old Fruitmarket | January 2015
Toni & Guy | February 2015
Toni & Guy | February 2015
Ania Kesiak Nails | March 2015
Ania Kesiak Nails | March 2015
Rafal, Hairdresser | April 2015
Rafal, Hairdresser | April 2015
Sandie Robertson, Life Coach | June 2015
Sandie Robertson, Life Coach | June 2015
Silvia Pellegrino, Fashion Designer | June 2015
Silvia Pellegrino, Fashion Designer | June 2015
Ludovic Favier, Model | June 2015
Ludovic Favier, Model | June 2015
Chouchou Couture | June 2015
Chouchou Couture | June 2015
Tom Kendall, Ballet Dancer | June 2015
Tom Kendall, Ballet Dancer | June 2015
Christine Bovill, Singer/Songwriter | September 2015
Christine Bovill, Singer/Songwriter | September 2015
Robert the Pug | September 2015
Robert the Pug | September 2015
Lorna Thomas, Bass Player | October 2015
Lorna Thomas, Bass Player | October 2015
Mason McKenzie Wedding | December 2015
Mason McKenzie Wedding | December 2015
Carlton Martin | December 2015
Carlton Martin | December 2015