Ludovic Favier is a brilliant French model whom I had the pleasure of photographing last June in Spain. We wandered through the streets and parks of Barcelona in scorching heat looking for locations, chatting and taking photos - totally laid back and old school; just us two and the camera:
Portrait
Electric Waterfalls
My very first shoot this year was a blast! I met singer/songwriter Caroline Gilmour in 2014 and we collaborated then on her Paper Planes release. We got together again in January this year to shoot cover and promo images for her brand new EP Electric Waterfalls (released this month). Vivienne Masters was in charge of styling the shoot and Caroline Stewart did wonders with hair and make up:
Some behind the scenes shots for you:
And a look at the final release (CD and 7" Limited Edition Vinyl):
Tristan Cameron Harper
I've been meaning to do this post for ages but keeping this blog up to date is clearly not high on my agenda (despite the "UPDATE BLOG" scribbles on my notice board as well as notifications on my iPhone...)! Anyways.... Towards the end of last year, I had the pleasure of working with model/ice hockey player Tristan Harper. I rarely do TFP shoots so I'm quite careful about which projects I choose to get involved with under this banner. This one seemed like an interesting opportunity however as I didn't have photos of such bearded, tattooed and slightly rough around the edges guys in my portfolio. Tristan turned out to be an absolute gentleman and a total pleasure to work with. Results below:
After shoot selfie with Tristan.
St. Peter's Seminary
I love shooting outdoors, am always looking for new, unusual or in any way exciting places to use as a setting and it rarely gets more exciting than the ruins of St. Peter's Seminary in Cardross. I'd read about it online and one day in the summer of 2011, singer Jill Jackson (ex Speedway), her assistant and myself went onto an exploratory trip which eventually turned into an impromptu photoshoot. We found the place to be creepy as hell, we bumped into a couple of Japanese tourists bizarrely (you won't find these ruins in your travel book, trust me) but more importantly it also turned out to be an endless photo opportunity. I've been back several times since then, most recently in May with a shoot for Channel 4, and while the place is getting more and more difficult to access it never fails to deliver and despite my numerous visits I still feel there's more to see there. Here are some images from shoots I've had there over the years:
Jill Jackson
Jil Jackson
Scott Charles
Scott Charles
Patricia Panther
Patricia Panther
Channel 4
Channel 4
Old Hollywood
I've always been obsessed with portraits from the Golden Age of Hollywood, especially the ones taken before World War II broke. I remember cutting out those Dietrich head shots by Don English or numerous publicity stills taken by George Hurrell from newspapers and magazines whenever there was an article on stars or films from that era. Sure, more often than not they were the results of painful sittings with subjects who were contractually obliged to have their shots taken by this or that particular photographer whether they approved of them or not and the end results were retouched to within an inch of their life (I find it funny when people go on about Photoshopping these days as if retouching was the digital age's invention) but when you look at those images today you cannot deny the fact that they are timeless. They will never age and they also seem to have a certain air of melancholy about them. I think my preoccupation with that particular style of photography can be seen in my work at times - the shadows, rich blacks, the drama, use of wide apertures, etc. It's not necessarily something I do consciously - it just happens to be the kind of aesthetic I'm drawn to. I've always wanted however, to do a shoot that would directly pay homage to that era and this summer I was finally given an opportunity to do so.
I've written previously about the amazing Christine Bovill and her Piaf show at last year's Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and this July I was asked to take some publicity shots specifically to promote her Piaf performances - perfect opportunity to indulge my vintage Hollywood glamour obsession. The super-talented Caroline Stewart was in charge of hair and make up and here's a sample of what we managed to create:
At some point during the session I asked Christine to sing a song in order to get a few performance-like shots. After a few spine-tingling verses sung A capella in French, Caroline was reduced to tears. If you've not been as lucky and haven't had the chance to hear Miss Bovill live I urge you to do so immediately - she currently has a residency at Swing on Hope Street in Glasgow and you can see her perform live with The Shiverin' Sheiks every Thursday. Oh, it's free too!
I'm leaving you with a couple of images of a more dressed-down version of Christine take that same day:
