Graphic Design

Diamond Days

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Photography, Video AND artwork for Brooks Williams’ recent album “Diamond Days”

I’ve worked with American singer/songwriter Brooks Williams on various projects over the years - solo shoots, collaborations with other musicians (Rab Noakes, Boo Hewerdine), as well as behind-the-scenes stuff and it’s always a pleasure. Last summer Brooks was in Wales at Martin Levan’s Red Kite Studio recording his new album “Diamond Days” and I was invited to film and photograph the sessions.

It was my first time in Wales and while the 8-hour, 3-train journey from Glasgow was rather stressful, it was worth it in the end. Set in the deepest Welsh valleys, Red Kite Studio was a dream space to photograph in and the hospitality of everyone involved made the whole experience a highlight of 2023 for me. See below for the photos, music videos as well as album artwork (I was responsible for that too).

GEAR PHOTO:
Nikon D850
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikkor 35mm f1.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filters

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

Justyna Jablonska's Lost & Found

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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

David Latto

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David Latto is a Scottish singer/songwriter who commissioned me last year to photograph and design artwork for his EP “Show Me How To Feel”. He was inspired by Franck Bohbot’s  levitation images and wanted the EP as well as the single covers to carry the weightlessness theme. The shoot took place last summer in Mugdock Park and the EP was released in the autumn to great reviews (and deservedly so!).

GEAR
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4

Travelling Mercies

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“Travelling Mercies” is a recent album from husband and wife duo Ashton Lane, and it topped UK Official Country Artists Album Charts earlier this year. I was approached by Esther and Tim last summer to photograph and design the album packaging. The shoot took place last September in one of my favourite places, Mugdock Park. In fact, I keep meaning to do a separate blog devoted to sessions I did there over the years (and there have been many), hopefully I’ll get to it soon. Anyway, back to Ashton Lane, I always get a bit nervous when my brief for a Glasgow based shoot includes words “outdoors” and “sunny” simultaneously - I may have many tricks up my sleeve but controlling the weather isn’t one of them so all you can do is hope that you’ll get lucky. And lucky we were indeed - it was a beautiful sunny evening, perfect for what we were trying to achieve.

Behind the scenes:

GEAR
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4

Bare Knuckle

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"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