Best of 2022 + Interview

December 29, 2022 in Blog, Portrait

2022 Summary

This has been a rather strange year. When I sat down to compile my favourite images from the past 12 months, I felt quite dispirited when it comes to my work - nothing major, just slightly blah. And then it turned out I struggled to whittle down my selection to only 12 photos, it would appear I’ve actually done more interesting work than I gave myself credit for. Perhaps it’s just winter blues.

The main event of 2022 when it comes to my work was undoubtedly the Women At COP26 exhibition. It was quite an undertaking, a huge learning curve and something I’m very proud of. While its run at Trongate 103 finished at the end of October, it has now found a new home at Skypark in Finnieston where it will officially launch in January (albeit in a slightly abridged version). So there’s something to look forward to in the New Year, never a bad thing.

INTERVIEW - THE BRAW & THE BRAVE PODCAST

In other news, I was recently interviewed for The Braw & The Brave, Lisa Kennedy’s award-winning podcast about creative people and their passions. If you fancy listening to me talk about my work, discussing imposter syndrome and how I take my porridge in the morning among other earth-shattering revelations, click here to listen on Apple Podcasts or stream below via Soundcloud:

Anyway, back to 2022 summary - here’s my favourite dozen. Enjoy and let me know what you think:

Jay Newton

January

Katee Kross

February

Justyna Jablonska

March

Sebastián Cancelliere

March

Agnieszka Opiola

March

Julia / Toni & Guy

April

Madaleine Pritchard

March

Christine Bovill

May

Mànran

June

Marissa Keltie

July

Brooks Williams

September

Sofie Elise Quist

September

And here’s what I’ve been obsessed with musically in 2022:

ALBUMS OF 2022
Renaissance Beyoncé
Yours Aye Jill Jackson
Motomami Rosalía
Dawn FM The Weeknd
Midnights Taylor Swift
Dirt Femme Tove Lo
Gemini Rights Steve Lacy
Angels & Queen Part 1 Gabriels
Blue Lawns The Great Yawn
Prism Say She She

SONGS OF 2022
Bad Habits Steve Lacy
Anti-Hero Taylor Swift
Baby Chicken Jill Jackson
Cosy Beyoncé
No One Dies From Love Tove Lo
Hung Up On Tokischa Madonna & Tokischa
Leaving Horse
Better Man Say She She
As It Was Harry Styles
Holy Hell Eddie Chacon

Best of 2021

January 01, 2022 in Blog, Portrait, Music

2021 was the year where everything went back to normal. Oh, no, hold on… Yeah, perhaps not so much. I shouldn’t complain really cause, all in all, it was a full and interesting year for me work-wise - I started doing more and more video work (even got a drone despite my earlier proclamations of never going near one), got to collaborate with some interesting people and lined up a few exciting projects for 2022 (Covid have mercy). Still, have to admit, I’m feeling pretty done in by 2021. I look at, say, an image of Kathleen MacInnes taken in June (see below), and feel like years - not merely months - have passed since that session. Is it just me? Anyway, here are 12 of my personal favourites taken in the past 12 months. Hope you like them too and I hope 2022 is kind to you.

Horse

April

Rab Noakes

April

Allan Jay

April

Roxana Halls

May

Jill Jackson

June

Kathleen MacInnes

June

Ceitlin Lilidh

July

The Eves

August

Laura Hurst

September

Sian

October

Izzie Eriksen

November

Gareth Williams

November

Oh, and in May, I had an absolute blast in Brighton filming this music video for Allan Jay. You don’t know what chaos can look like until you’ve got 14 drag queens, 4 dancers and 2 dogs to deal with on set!

And here’s music I enjoyed this past year:

ALBUMS OF 2021
Prioritise Pleasure Self Esteem
Magic Still Exists Agnes
Stand For Myself Yola
Deacon serpentwithfeet
Crooked Machine Róisín Murphy
Pink Noise Laura Mvula
star-crossed Kacey Musgraves
We Are Jon Batiste
Collapsed in Sunbeams Arlo Parks
30 Adele

SONGS OF 2021
I Do This All The Time Self Esteem
24 Hours Agnes
Hot N Heavy Jessie Ware
breadwinner Kacey Musgraves
Dancing Away In Tears Yola
Got Me Laura Mvula
Right On Time Brandi Carlile
Fellowship serpentwithfeet
Too Good Arlo Parks
Love and Hate in a Different Time Gabriels

Cheerio 2020

January 27, 2021 in Portrait, Blog

Well, 2020 was a doozy, wasn't it? I wrote a bit about my experience during the first lockdown before - remember that? We thought, or perhaps just hoped, that we were out of the woods by that point and life would merrily if slowly, come back to normal. I mean, LOL! At this point, I feel like that old lady in the Titanic wearily announcing “It’s been 84 years…”.

While my first lockdown was filled with making music, reading books about music and taking online music courses, the autumn one was filled with fanatic cooking and baking. Nigella Lawson has always been a huge inspiration for me (I’m pretty much convinced by this point that we’re the same person) but Lockdown #2 took it to new heights. I couldn’t tell whether these were the signs of me transforming into a fully-fledged “domestic goddess” in my 40s, or that a nervous breakdown was imminent. Still, nobody in my flat was complaining, obviously, and being in the kitchen really helped my overall mental health and became an outlet for creativity. Post-Christmas restrictions, however, just plunged me into a state of numbness. Needing an escape, and not being able to plan a physical one, I’ve been reading about Old Hollywood and watching movies from that era (Gilda, Sunset Boulevard, Jezebel, etc). There is something comforting about getting lost in that world. I also found a brilliant YouTube channel with video essays diving into the history of women in Hollywood through the prism of Academy Awards. Not that I’m obsessive about things or anything.

I do miss working and being creative but have been trying not to think about it or look too far ahead. 2020 has been a challenge and an eye-opening experience for everyone (I didn’t realise I had so many epidemiologists on my social media for example) but it’s over now and despite it being generally shit I still managed to take some photos I’m happy with and here’s a selection of them:

And I loved working with Tam Dean Burn on this music video for Louise Rutkowski:

ALBUMS OF 2020
Róisín Machine Róisín Murphy
What’s Your Pleasure? Jessie Ware
Gaslighter The Chicks
Future Nostalgia Dua Lipa
Women In Music Pt. III HAIM
That's How Rumors… Margo Price
Jaguar Victoria Monét

SONGS OF 2020
Murphy’s Law Róisín Machine
No Time To Die Billie Eilish
Levitating Dua Lipa
Ooh La La Jessie Ware
Midnight Sky Miley Cyrus
Gaslighter The Chicks

FRANCES THORBURN & FRIENDS

February 22, 2018 in Blog, Music, Live

Frances Thorburn is a fantastic singer-songwriter and an actress, known to many for her role as Kim Monroe in River City, and a couple of weeks ago she put on a truly splendid evening of music to raise funds for Moe Abutoq, a film director and a friend of Frances who was diagnosed with MS 2 years ago. The illness has been rapidly advancing and its treatment requires travel to Mexico and some £60,000. Frances invited a host of musicians for the night including Martha L. Healy, Kathryn Joseph, Angie Darcy and many more. "Celebration of Songs", as the event was called, took place on February 8th at Saint Luke's and featured material ranging from show tunes to Americana, Broadway to Paula Abdul (yes, really). I was lucky enough to be there and capture the night (see images below). If you didn't manage to attend the fundraiser you can still help Moe by donating to the JustGiving page Frances set up:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/frances-thorburnmoeabutoq.

SOUNDCHECK

CELEBRATION OF SONGS

Kathryn Joseph

Joyce Falconer

George Drennan & Frances Thorburn

Moe Abutoq

Angie Darcy

Frances Thorburn

Martha L. Healy

Frances Thorburn

Ryan Joseph Burns

Frances Thorburn

David Farrell, Frances Thorburn, Kathryn Joseph & Chris Stout

Hello 2018

January 07, 2018 in Blog

Had a super quiet New Year with friends in Otter Ferry and now it's back to Glasgow and back to work. Happily though, I have to say, as I always get a bit lost during the festive season - sitting on the couch, stuffing your face and doing nothing is fun for a day or two but after that, I start getting antsy. So here we are, another year over and below are some of my favourite images I took in 2017. Hope you like them too.