Don McCullin

For as long as I can remember I’ve been obsessed with Don McCullin. The bleak, black and white photography of this melancholic man got under my skin somehow and, even now, I have goosebumps just thinking about some of the confrontational images he created. When I was younger I wanted to be just like him but I soon found out I didn’t have what it took to be, as the legendary Harold Evans described him, ‘a conscience with a camera’.
I have two earlier books of his ‘Perspectives’ and ‘Unreasonable Behaviour’ that are like truth seeking missiles in my photographic world – and I take them with me wherever I go.
Throughout time and trends his work endures and this month McCullin – an independent film documenting the life of Britain’s greatest living photographer of war and so much more, is released.
I can’t wait to see it…..

Astray

recent stills from photo shoot for Astray Clothing London

Surf Portraits – ‘The Impossible Dream’

‘The Impossible Dream’ is the surreal visual journey of young surfer Will Davey immersed in a world of water, waves and wipeouts – endlessly searching for perfection and a path to his ultimate destiny.
I started out as a student shooting black and white film with the red filter – which I hand printed on high contrast paper for added emphasis. I loved the monochrome cinematography of Andrei Tarkovsky and the wide angled world of photographers like Bill Brandt so I guess with this project I’ve returned to my roots and to the people that first inspired me to pick up a camera.

Flaming Youth

FLAMING YOUTH – a book of photographs by Glendyn Irvin from Puberty Blues.
I’ve been following this mega talented image maker since I first saw Cracker Bag and thereafter the brilliant Playground so I was excited to share his latest project – in his own words & photographs and available here

I started documenting the making of the show from the start. Like visual notes the photographs became part of the process of discovery of how the series would look and feel. From casting and location scouting to scene ideas, documenting a colour or how the light looked at a certain time of day. What worked, what didn’t. The people, places and things that make up the texture and tone of Puberty Blues.

Most of the time the photos were taken in the moments just before ‘Action!’ was called. Or in-between ‘takes’ to maintain focus and momentum throughout the stop / start rhythm of shooting. That small amount of precious time just before the cameras roll. I would sometimes take a quick shot just as that moment of transformation would take place, from ‘actor’ to ‘character’.

Sometimes the photo would become the key on how to shoot a scene. A way of trying to find the essence, or a reduction to a single image. An attempt to find stillness in and amongst the chaos of a film shoot.