Nikon Z8

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

Prana for Life

Lifestyle Photoshoot with Yogi Siobhan Fitzgerald

Siobhan Fitzgerald is a yoga therapist who specialises in breath work. She saw some of the photography work I did a few years back for Our World Yoga and got in touch to see if I’d be interested in working with her. We met for coffee this summer, got on like a house on fire (shared Madonna obsession helped) and ended up scheduling a date for the shoot. The session took place last month in the Merchant City Yoga studio as well as outdoors in the surrounding areas. Siobhan wanted the images to be bright and airy so that’s what we went for. See some examples below.

GEAR
Nikon Z8
Nikkor Z MC 105mm f2.8
Nikkor Z 85mm f1.2
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filters
Profoto B10
Profoto OCF Softbox 3' Octa
Reflector

Mela Festival 2024

Photographing Mela Festival at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park.

The Glasgow Mela is Scotland's biggest free multicultural festival of music, dance, and arts held annually at Kelvingrove Park. This year it took place on Sunday, June 23rd, it attracted some 40,000 people and I was there to capture the event for Glasgow Life. Honestly, this was such a joy to photograph and I hope the images below convey that.

GEAR:
Nikon Z8
Nikkor Z 70-200 f2.8
Nikkor Z 14-24mm f2.8
Nikkor Z 85mm f1.2
Nikkor Z 35mm f1.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filters

Christian Shaw and the Witches of Paisley

Christian Shaw and the Witches of Paisley - a new opera project from NOISE.

“Christian Shaw and the Witches of Paisley” is a new opera in development from NOISE, with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working on numerous projects in the past decade (like this one for example). This time I was filming and photographing workshops for this new venture which takes as its subject matter Paisley’s textile industry and the last witch trial to take place in Scotland. It’s a fascinating story and I cannot wait to see the final production. You can learn more about the project from the video below.

GEAR
Nikon Z8
Nikkor Z 14-24mm f2.8
Nikkor Z MC 105mm f2.8
Nikkor Z 85mm f1.2
Nikkor Z 35mm f1.8
Tiffen Black Pro-mist 1/4 Filters
DJI RS 2