Portrait

Cara Rose

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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

Best of 2024

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Happy New Year everyone. 2024 marked 10 years since I became a self-employed photographer full-time. I’ve been meaning to write a separate blog about that cause, as you can imagine, there’s a lot to tell but I simply haven’t gotten around to it. It’s on my to-do list! All I will say is that I felt a shift happened this past year in terms of the kind of work that comes my way, the profile of clients I attract and the frequency of jobs. All for the better. One of 2024 highlights for me, was definitely shooting the Celtic Connections festival. I loved working on it and am delighted to be asked to do it again this year (the festival kicks off on January 16). Another high point was working on The Road Less Travelled, the new Horse album - it was a labour of love with a dear friend and I’m proud of it. Below you can find a dozen of my favourite images from the past year.

ALBUMS OF 2024
Cowboy Carter Beyoncé
Dance, No One’s Watching Ezra Collective
Fabiana Palladino Fabiana Palladino
In Waves Jamie XX
Deeper Well Kacey Musgraves
A La Sala Khruangbin
Short n’ Sweet Sabrina Carpenter
Tyla Tyla
Small Changes Michael Kiwanuka
Orquídeas Kali Uchis

SONGS OF 2024
Deeper Well Kacey Musgraves
Espresso Sabrina Carpenter
Midnight Cowboy Jade
Aquamarine Addison Rae
Texas Hold ‘Em Beyoncé
Truth or Dare Tyla
360 Charli XCX
Yes, And? Ariana Grande
Stay With Me Through the Night Fabiana Palladino
Treat Each Other Right Jamie XX

Prana for Life

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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

Mic Clark

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Portrait session with Mic Clark.

Mic Clark is a Scottish singer/songwriter. We met briefly years ago when I was photographing his dad, Chris Clark, another accomplished musician. Last autumn, however, Mic got in touch to have some images taken for his own project. We shot at Basement49 and thereabouts and had the brilliant Michelle Watson on styling duties. Enjoy!

GEAR
Nikon D850
Nikkor 85mm f1.4
Profoto B10
Profoto OCF Magnum Reflector

The Road Less Travelled

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Photography, artwork and music videos for The Road Less Travelled, a new album from Horse McDonald.

Horse’s new album, The Road Less Travelled, has been many years in the making. In fact, it’s her first release since 2013’s Home which was the first project I worked on with Horse. In the decade or so since, we’ve become frequent collaborators and close friends. With years of projects under our belt and the trust that came with that, Horse let me have the reigns of the visual side of the new album as well as its promo - from photography and video for the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, album artwork and vinyl packaging to various merchandise pieces. I even managed to have a small hand in the recording process and sang backing vocals on one of the album tracks (that’s one off the bucket list!).

The first piece of The Road Less Travelled rollout was the music video for “Leaving”, released back in 2022. In the 2 years since, Horse has completed writing and recording the album and everything was in place for a late spring 2024 launch. Late last year, we started brainstorming ideas for the album promo and for the album’s title track video. While the song “The Road Less Travelled” deals with a relationship ending, we decided to treat the title as a metaphor for Horse’s life, incorporating various iconic images from her 3-decade-plus career as well as personal snaps.

As for the album cover image itself, in late February we booked Basement49 studio and spent a few hours trying different things out. Originally, Horse wanted the album cover to echo the artwork for her 1990 debut, The Same Sky. I wasn’t overly keen on that idea - felt it was pushing the nostalgia factor a step too far - but in the end, it’s my job to bring the artist’s vision to life. The way I often tend to work, however, is to give clients what they think they want but also provide them with something they didn’t know they needed. In this case, what Horse didn’t think she needed was the very last image taken that day which, according to her, turned out to be as iconic as that 1990 shot. I can’t take full credit here though. Originally, my idea for this particular shot was to photograph Horse from the back, showcasing her distinct hairstyle from that angle, but our stylist, Michelle Watson, kept telling Horse to turn her head back to the left and that was that. When Horse received the contact sheet with the images taken on the day, that very last frame was her first choice for the album cover.

Scroll below for the videos, promo images, photos from the album launch at CCA and the album artwork.

ALBUM COVER SHOOT:
Styling & Make Up: Michelle Watson Creative

ALBUM LAUNCH AT CCA:

VINYL ARTWORK:
Limited, hand-numbered edition on red vinyl, gatefold with 12” x 12” exclusive insert

ALBUM LAUNCH BOOKLET: