Cara Rose

Portrait session with singer/songwriter Cara Rose

A friend of mine took me to see Cara Rose live at Cottiers in December 2023. She’s a brilliant young singer/songwriter, but I didn’t know much about her or her music. The moment she came on stage, however, I thought I needed to work with her at some point. We chatted briefly after the gig (which was fantastic, by the way) and reconnected in early 2024 to talk about a possible collaboration. Cara loves analog photography, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to do a fully analog shoot, something I don’t do often these days. We set a date in February, had a studio, assembled a great team of people, and… well, I fucked it. I messed up the shutter speed settings on my Nikon FM, and every single frame came out half black. It’s quite embarrassing for someone who’s been shooting film long before digital was even an option. Rookie mistake, but what can you do? I had to own up to it. Luckily, everyone involved suggested a reshoot, and we managed to get together again a couple of months later. And yes, we were still determined to use film, although there might be one or two digital shots that sneaked in below - can you tell which ones are which?

Styling & Make Up: Michelle Watson Creative
Assistance: Jock Thomson
Studio: Basement49

GEAR
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikon Z8 + Nikkor Z MC 105mm f2.8
Nikon FM + Nikkor 100mm f1.8
Kodak Portra 400 + Kodak 400 TX
Profoto A10
Profoto B10
Profoto OCF Magnum Reflector
Profoto OCF Softbox 3' Octa
Umbrellas

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

Jill Jackson, Yours Aye

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:

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“Live Sessions”

Gorbals Sound, March 6th, 2021:

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ALBUM LAUNCH

Cottiers, Soundcheck & Live Show, May 19, 2022

Kirsten Adamson

(Phenomenal) Support Act

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

Barbra Kolasinski

Barbra Kolasinski is a luxury Scottish womenswear brand - her stuff is beautiful, colourful and unique. She’s also a friend of mine - we met on a shoot a while back and hit it off. I love her use of colour and textures in her work and wanted to photograph her for some time. We finally made it happen this summer - check out some of the images below.

GEAR
Nikon D850
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Profoto A1 + Air Remote TTL-N for Nikon
Neewer 120cm Octabox
Nikon FM + 50mm f1.4
Kodak 400 TX

Horse on St. Cyrus Beach

I wrote about my gradual return to shooting film a while back and I mentioned having some 100% analog projects in the pipeline. I can finally share one of them with you. Horse and I have been talking about doing a shoot where it’s just us, camera and the beach for quite some time and earlier this year we drove up to the beautiful St. Cyrus Beach on the East coast of Scotland where we spent a couple of hours walking, talking and taking pictures. We shot 3 rolls of film (2 black and white and a colour one) and I really enjoyed working like that again. It reminded me of the very first shoots I did as a teenager where there was no pressure, no assistants, no stylists, no crazy light equipment - just a camera and the person in front of it. Enjoy!

Behind the scenes:

GEAR
Nikon FM + 50mm f1.4
Kodak 400 TX
Kodak Portra 400