Is is that time again already? Ah yes, the clocks have turned back, everything is getting cold, dark and miserable and it’s that time of year where the people of London layer up to brave the brutal British climate, only to sweat profusely on an overcrowded tube… Delightful.
The last month or so has been pretty interesting, but the main flavour has definitely been celebrity editorial, so I’m going to focus on that.
A few great shoots with Jay Brooks of Shoot Group this month, including 3 cover shoots featuring Nigella Lawson, Bradley Wiggins and Rafe Spall/Sally Hawkins for the Guardian Weekend and Times Culture magazines respectively:
Jay and myself were fortunate enough to have the privilege of shooting the lovely (and very welcoming) Nigella inside her actual house, a stunning 3 storey property in the heart of Chelsea. Fortunately for us, the house was unfathomably enormous, which meant that rigging up two lighting setups and a 3m Colorama was a breeze.
Next up was Bradley Wiggins, shooting again for Guardian Weekend:
We shot Bradley at an old social club near Angel on a bit of a hectic day, Bradley was doing three shoots that day all in the same location for Fred Perry, Guardian Weekend (Jay, myself and another assistant, Tom) and a GQ feature. All the photography teams were working to tight time frames but it was all good fun and great to meet a national hero who heralds from my home county of Lancashire.
Moving along, another cover shoot, this time for Times Culture magazine with Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins for an article about their upcoming play ‘Constellations’:
We shot the Constellations stars (no pun intended) in the attic/rehearsal room of the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo, a beautiful building with unforgiving staircases. Definitely not Colorama friendly. There were some interesting/dangerous antics involving a rickety ladder, a black out curtain and a couple of magic clamps, but all worthwhile and necessary of course…
Let’s see now, where was I…? Ah yes, a nice and straightforward shoot with the almighty Elliott Morgan, shooting some Little Mix press shots for their label at Holborn Studios:
As we were shooting Little Mix, One Direction were also doing a shoot in one of the other studios at Holborn. Seeing Zayne Malik walk into our set bearing a young child in his arms and a couple of guest appearances from Harry Styles made for some interesting viewing…
Always a pleasure to work with Elliott, who is also the Picture Editor for Fiasco magazine, which would probably pave way to a convenient time to mention that I shot Irish actor Andrew Simpson for Fiasco this month. No pictures to show just yet as the issue doesn’t get released til the end of November, make sure to keep your eyes peeled on here to see the shots when they’re published…
I also finally managed to track down some shots on Getty of James Nesbitt that I worked with Dan Burn-Forti on for the Telegraph magazine a few weeks back, apologies for the watermarks…
On a personal note, I picked up this nice little guide book last week from a great little bike-obsessed coffee shop on Old Street called “Look Mum, No Hands!”. The book serves as a guide to some of the best speciality coffee shops across London (Look Mum, No Hands is one of many coffee shops listed inside). One by one I’m attempting to grab a brew at as many of them as I can, without causing myself a ravaging caffeine overdose in the process:
That just about wraps up this month’s update. I have some interesting stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks, both shooting and assisting so be sure to check back soon!
