Agnieszka Opiola

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

Justyna Jablonska's Lost & Found

LOST & FOUND: A CELLIST’S JOURNEY

This was probably one of my favourite projects last year. Performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in August, Lost & Found: A Cellist’s Journey, was a rumination on Justyna Jablonska’s personal and musical journey from Poland to Scotland after finishing high school in her hometown of Łódź. It mixed cello, electronica and video projections to tell the artist’s story.

Justyna and I have worked together on several projects in recent years and it’s always a joy and a challenge. For Lost & Found, my task was to take promotional images, design the artwork and produce a trailer for the show. Justyna wanted everything to have a vintage, analog feel so most of the images were shot on film and I tried to incorporate that aesthetic in the promo artwork and video.

While Justyna is based in Edinburgh, we took the main promo images in Glasgow as its industrial history and vibe are closer to Łódź, where Justyna is originally from. Have a look below:

Promo Poster for the Edinburgh Fringe

GEAR PHOTO
Nikon FM + Nikkor 100mm f1.8
Kodak 400TX

Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter

Sony A7III + Sony 85mm f1.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter

GEAR VIDEO
Sony A7III + DJI RS 2
Sony 35mm f1.8
Sony 85mm f1.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 FilterS

Bare Knuckle

"Bare Knuckle" is the title of Chris Stout & Catriona McKay's new album. It was released last December to unanimous critical acclaim and the duo has just been nominated for BBC Radio 2 Folk Award 2018 (Best Duo category). I've worked with Chris and Catriona for many years but "Bare Knuckle" was definitely the first time I was involved in their project to such extent - from promotional photoshoot to album artwork and promo posters, from filming the title track's music video to covering the album launch at Queen's Hall in Edinburgh. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to my work so being able to oversee every aspect of this album's rollout (creatively speaking at least) was truly rewarding. It's also been an absolute pleasure, sometimes a challenge (I'd never done a music video before) but above all a genuine privilege to work with artists of this calibre who also happen to be really decent human beings. 

ALBUM PROMO

ALBUM COVER

LIVE AT QUEEN'S HALL

CELTIC CONNECTIONS PROMO

Celtic Orbit

Celtic Orbit is a musical collaboration between acclaimed pianist Barry Douglas and Eimear McGeown (Flute), Catriona McKay (Harp) and Chris Stout (Fiddle). I photographed and filmed part of their rehearsal process at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall earlier this year, have a look below: