Jill Jackson

Best of 2023

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2023 summary

So yes, I have been slacking a bit when it comes to this blog. The last few months of 2023 were really busy with work and travel and something had to give. Overall, last year was good when it came to work. I was involved in some interesting projects - travelled with Gareth Williams to the Scottish Highlands to photograph the cover for his “Songs from the Last Page” release; was in Wales with Brooks Williams photographing and filming the recording process for his just-released album “Diamond Days”; shot a short fashion film for Studio Floor and helped Horse with her successful Kickstarter campaign for the new record “The Road Less Travelled” among others. I also started doing regular personal projects where I take a day each month to collaborate with interesting people and shoot just for the fun and creativity of it. It allows me to try things, experiment, and perhaps fail a bit.

Anyway, I’m back and kicking off 2024 with some of my favourite images from the past year. Enjoy!

ALBUMS OF 2023
The Love Invention Alison Goldfrapp
Fuse Everything But The Girl
That! Feels Good! Jessie Ware
The Age of Pleasure Janelle Monáe
Mid Air Romy
Hit Parade Róisín Murphy
Volcano Jungle
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess Chappell Roan
Sundown Eddie Chacon
The Returner Allison Russell

SONGS OF 2023
Freak Me Now Jessie Ware
You Knew Róisín Murphy
Lipstick Lover Janelle Monáe
Miley Cyrus Flowers
Houdini Dua Lipa
Rush Troye Sivan
Nothing Left To Lose Everything But The Girl
Demons Allison Russell
Water Tyla

Remembering Rab Noakes

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Rab Noakes 1947 - 2022

It’s truly surreal and heartbreaking to write a heading like this. Only a few weeks ago I was in a recording studio with Rab where he was working on a new album with Brooks Williams. He was in great form, cracking jokes, and his voice sounded great. And yet here we are. I got a message from a friend on Friday asking whether I’d heard the news about Rab. I did not and my heart sank.

I met Rab Noakes through Jill Jackson, his close friend and a frequent collaborator, who enrolled me to take some promotional images for their upcoming tour. Rab and I got on very well, he liked the images and would get me to photograph him for his following projects with Barbara Dickson, Brooks Williams as well as solo. I loved taking pictures of him, he was one the most impeccably dressed men I’ve ever encountered and his charisma and charm were a joy to capture. While we didn’t always see eye to eye (Rab thought ABBA was nothing special and Ella Fitzgerald was overrated - gasp!) we always had a great time together and he was incredibly supportive of my work, kept recommending me to other artists and attended my exhibitions.

I leave you with some of my favourite images I took of Rab throughout the years.

He’s greatly missed.

A Decade with Horse

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10 Years of working with Horse McDonald

Horse was a customer at a coffee shop I used to work at in Finnieston when I was a student in Glasgow in the mid-2000s (waaaaaay before the area was deemed the new Shoreditch). I didn't know who she was at the time, just another person I was making coffee for, and I certainly couldn't have predicted we would not only work together but also become close friends in the future.

Our first proper introduction happened during a Jill Jackson gig at the Renfrew Ferry in early 2011 (I wrote about my decade of photographing Jill here). We recognised each other from the coffee shop and briefly spoke about the possibility of working together at some point.

That opportunity came along when Horse was gearing up for the release of her album “Home” and needed some publicity shots. We spent a brilliant day with her band in Strachur in October 2012 and it marked the beginning of a fruitful working relationship which eventually turned into friendship. There have been photoshoots, countless live gigs and most recently, a music video for her banging single “Leaving”.

It was actually working with Horse that lead to me exploring video work. I was doing some behind-the-scenes shots on a music video of hers and the guys filming asked for assistance. I’d been asked by clients to do filming many times at that point but I always refused, I was too scared of the medium and worried I wouldn’t be able to translate the visual style of my photography work into moving image. Having helped on that video for Horse demystified the process for me and made me go “Oh, that’s really not that different from photography, I can do it!”.

You can see the “Leaving” video, shots from every collaboration we’ve done over the past decade (including previously unreleased images) as well some personal snaps below.

“Leaving” Music Video.

Mugdock Park

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Portraits in Mugdock Park

Mugdock Country Park is one of my favourite outdoors spaces to photograph in. It’s easily accessible from Glasgow and not too remote. There are bits of it that feel like remote countryside, places that are lush green and overgrown with ferns. You can find meadows, huge trees, water, there are even ruins of a castle - basically a never-ending source of photo inspiration and despite having done numerous shoots there over the years, I still feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of the park. In fact, I got lost there for a bit on a shoot last year, wandering in a wooded area in circles. Below you can see one image from every shoot I’ve done in Mugdock Park so far. Enjoy.

Jill Jackson, Yours Aye

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New album campaign for Jill Jackson

“Yours Aye” is the brand new album by Scottish singer-songwriter Jill Jackson. After several pandemic-related delays, it finally saw the light of day in early May (hitting #1 on iTunes Country Album Chart no less). I’ve written about working with Jill many, many times (you can read about our first decade together here for example) and what can I say? It’s always a pleasure and a really, really good laugh.

Jill approached me last year to do a photoshoot for the new album cover and after sending me some examples of the mood and style of images she was after (see below), I suggested shooting the whole thing on film. Since Jill loves all things analog there wasn’t any convincing needed. I have to admit though that before the session I started panicking a little - what if I mess up and we don’t get the cover shot we needed? I got back to shooting film in recent years but haven’t done many 100% analog projects for clients so to alleviate my paranoia and to cover my back I took my digital equipment along with my Nikon FM and ended up using both.

We shot in Basement49 Studio as well as outdoors in Glasgow’s Merchant City. Gulabi did a brilliant job developing and scanning the 5 rolls we went through on the day (2 color and 3 black and white) and you can see some of my favourite images from the session if you scroll below. Wonder if you can tell which ones were analog and which were digital?

My involvement in the project didn’t end there however. Earlier this year I filmed Jill’s live sessions at Gorbals Sound studios as well as an interview, all of which are being used to promote the album on various platforms. I was also recently at Cottiers where Jill officially launched the album with a brilliant live set. Have a look below to see all of that and more. Enjoy and do check out “Yours Aye”, it really is a masterclass in songwriting and production.

Jill's visual references

for the session

“Yours Aye” Album Cover:

“Yours Aye” album cover shoot.

Basement49 Studio and Merchant City in Glasgow, June 3rd 2021:

“Live Sessions”

Gorbals Sound, March 6th, 2021:

ALBUM LAUNCH

Cottiers, Soundcheck & Live Show, May 19, 2022

Behind the scenes:

GEAR

Digital:
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Studio Lights (can’t remember what was used exactly)

Analog:
Nikon FM + Nikkor 100mm f1.8
Kodak TX 400
Kodak Portra 400
Studio Lights

Video:
Sony A7III x 2
Sony 35mm f1.8
Sony 85mm f1.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filters
Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 + Metabones Nikon G to Sony E-mount Converter
Profoto B10 + Profoto OCF Softbox 3' Octa
Neewer CN-216 LED Light x 2
DJI RS 2
Edited in FCPX

Live:
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filter
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 / Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8

BTS:
FujiFilm x100v
iPhone 11 Pro