Established in 2004, Ceòl's Craic is a year-round programme of the best in contemporary Gaelic culture. I've had the pleasure of working with them for a few years now, photographing various events, from plays and book launches to music showcases at CCA. It's fun, sometimes challenging and often educational (who knew there was so much brilliant electronica in Gaelic?). Here's a collection of some of my favourite images for Ceòl's Craic:
Music
The Dolls
The Dolls are Louise McCarthy (Only an Excuse?) and Gayle Telfer Stevens (River City) and I've known them for a few years through my work with Soul Nation Choir (Gayle and Lousie have both sung with this brilliant choir). I'd been hearing (and seeing clips online) of their double act for a while but somehow never got the chance to see it live until I was asked to photograph a couple of their sold-out Dolls Abroad shows at The Mitchell Theatre this September. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen - I was photographing it with tears streaming down my face! After 8 sold-out shows at The Mitchell Theatre, The Dolls are hitting the road next spring to bring Dolls Abroad to venues all over Scotland. Fat chance getting tickets (some dates were sold out within 10 minutes) but it's definitely worth trying cause these two (and the brilliant Alan Orr who also stars in the show) will knock your socks out!
Monkoora
Stuart and Kirsty, the styling dream team behind I'll Be Your Mirror, kindly approached me earlier this year to work with them on promotional images for HOT GEM's promising young singer/songwriter Monkoora. The artist's beautiful red hair provided the perfect opportunity for us to indulge in our shared Guy Bourdin obsession and it was his work as well as photographs by Nadia Lee Cohen that populated our mood board for the shoot. I'm working with I'll Be Your Mirror again in a couple of weeks (excited!), in the meantime here are some images from the Monkoora shoot:
Photography: Kris Kesiak
Styling & Art Direction: I'll Be Your Mirror
Hair: Lisa at Byers & Birrell
Make Up: Colette Murphy
Clothes: Silken Favours, Isolated Heroes
Locations: The Variety Bar, 13th Note
Behind The Scenes:
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):
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:
