Dave Stewart

It is not every day you get a personal performance by a world renowned guitarist and even rarer to get one from the legend Dave Stewart himself. That was the case on this shoot at his private members club The Hospital. (By that I mean he owns the club and opened it before any of the other big members clubs in London. The intention was to have a place where creative minds could get together and talk creativity….) Yes, it was about half way during the shoot, moving away from the green backdrop to the tree lined wallpaper backdrop. Dave had gone to change clothes and came back with a new outfit, a VOX amp and a shiny Fender Shop Customised Strat. The guitar was a work of art in itself; shiny metal body with a woman engraved on it. We set up in the corner a little area where he could pose with guitar and amp. I have to admit that I was a little wary to shoot him with guitar and amp as it can sometimes seem a little obvious and staged. That was until he turned the thing on. He pumped the volume up to 11 (out of 10) and went straight into playing his own tunes, (and a little Jimmy Hendrix), before returning to his own tunes again. It is at that moment you realise what it takes to be a world class guitarist. The music filled the room (and the rest of the members club could also hear it through the closed door). A woman with a baby asleep in the dining area had supposedly asked a waiter if they could turn it down. (The waiter just looked at her, realising it was Dave Stewart playing and Dave Stewart’s club, and said ‘no’.) I was quite aware that the images taken at this time would probably not be my favourite from the shoot, but I kept the flash triggering, I kept shooting, I wanted to keep Dave feeling that the shoot was happening in order for him to keep on playing.

Dave Stewart, not just because of the event mentioned above, was a lot nicer than I had expected. He has always seemed to me to be the quiet, serious guy from Eurythmics, but his legacy expands far beyond Eurythmics, and his personality was colourful and vibrant. The hat and glasses remained on - a part of what has given him the serious image - and when I asked him if he could remove the glasses for a couple of shots he replied: I haven’t worn these glasses for decades to remove them now… “Fair enough!” I replied.

Brett Anderson

I knew from the word “go” that a shoot with Brett Anderson from Suede had great potential. He has always been a man of style. From his glam days as a lead singer in Suede until today, he’s stayed true to his cool image. Although a little toned down now from his younger days, his skinny jeans and sleek look is still a strong look. So, when deciding how to shoot Brett I was determined to move away from stereotypical “male imagery” and brought in pink, pink and more pink. I made an educated guess that he’d be wearing black and if anyone could make pink overload work, then it would be Brett. Brett famously described himself as “a bisexual man who never had a homosexual experience” - so the femininity that is traditionally, (and I emphasise the word ‘traditionally’) associated with pink would surely pass.

I also chose to have a second setup playing with lots of different colour gel, an idea I had, giving a visual nod towards the late 80’s and the glam period that saw Suede at their biggest.

Brett came in to the room and didn’t flinch at the big pink backdrop and pink chair. He introduced himself with confidence and introduced a small selection of outfits. Brett was engaged in the image process and showed great interest in the images. Not in a critical and disapproving way, but agreed with the direction and let me know his own favourites.

Great man to work with, bringing both style and character to the shoot.

Observer New Review

Gene Simmons

I checked out a little about the legend Gene Simmons before I went to shoot him in a small hotel room in Soho. It was obvious that this was a man who knew about marketing himself and I was prepared for it. I expected logos, books, action figures and all other merchandise that could point us in his direction, and if needed I would negotiate a golden middle way. However, all that was in the hotel room was a safe/vault, (his new ultimate record collection comes in the form of a vault,) and nothing else. I quite liked the vault, included it in one of my setup ideas and Gene entered the room.

Gene was a taller than I expected. A handshake soon changed into a fist bump and off to the wonderful world of Gene we went. He took the Mick out of the cockney accent, with a not tooooo bad of an impression. (It’s the first time I have heard an American criticise the Brits for not pronouncing their ’t’s’.) His playlist, played off his phone, was unexpected, finishing with a tune that left us all speechless, with goosebumps and a tear in the eye. If you don’t react to Nat King Cole’s rendition of Charlie Chaplin’s song ‘Smile’ then you are cold as ice.

The shoot didn’t feel as a shoot in many ways. I didn’t control the timings as I had Gene’s attention for a couple of minutes before he’d decided he’d had enough of that setup. Don’t get me wrong, Gene was generous with his time, he just didn’t want to hang around for that infamous ‘just one more shot’. It was then for me to move around and try something else, and again he would accommodate and contribute for a couple more minutes, and so it went. 10 min chat and laughs followed by a couple of minutes photography. At the end I had to ask - ‘bathtub??’ - and in he went. No water though, that may have been going too far, and as he was still in his rock outfit, it would leave him wet for the rest of the day. Anyway, I wasn’t really aiming to show Gene in the bath getting clean, but wanted more to create a “rock’n roll” image, giving a hint to the rock star that finds himself in the bathtub at the end of a hard night.

Gene’s team was present, hoping he wouldn’t be too vocal on certain issues and in the hope that their presence may prevent Gene from telling a few un-pc jokes. It may have restricted him a little but a Willie Nelson joke was still served on a silver platter in exchange for a promise not to publish it. The manager was urging Gene not to say it as ‘It’s a delicate climate nowadays and we all have to watch what we say.’ I can imagine that the manager has his work cut out trying to keep Gene on the right side of political correctness, but where would Rock rock be if they obeyed by the rules of Political Correctness and health and safety?

Noel Gallagher

It seems a life time ago since I photographed Noel for the first time, and as far as my photography career is concerned, then it probably was. Last time I was restricted to a small boardroom, so it was a pleasure to have a whole studio space to play with. Noel rocked up that late Monday afternoon, (I don’t know if Noel can actually just ‘arrive’ at a destination - he is most certainly a ‘rocked up’ kinda guy). Guitar in hand and looking sharp, even though he himself said he was knackered having just had a whole weekend of events. One of them being the Manchester memorial concert “We Are Manchester”, where he was amongst a group of musicians invited to play at the reopening of Manchester Arena after the terror attack in May. And what better act to reopen a space like Manchester Arena after a tragedy than Noel and “Don’t Look Back in Anger”. The tune is not only personal to Gallagher but also rings true in so many situations.

The shoot itself was casual. We talked about love for South America, particularly Buenos Aires, his new album and life in general. It was the kind of chilled shoot that should allow for a sit down and an ice cold Mojito. However, 45 minutes and a few setups to work through meant no time for play. And I am sure that after a busy weekend Noel would rather go home, fill the bathtub with some bubbles and gobble up the caviar, than sit and chat to some photographer at a random studio. Maybe I’ll suggest bathtub and caviar for the next shoot?!

Shot for Sunday Times Culture

Barry Gibb

There are few people around the world who have not tapped their feet to a bit of Bee Gees. In my case, I’d go as far as having walked to the rhythm of You Should be Dancing with etc sound of my cord flares swishing to the beat, I have pointed to my belt followed by a point to the disco ball above on several occasions to the sound of Staying Alive, I’ve had collars so big that they slapped me in the face as I was moovin’ and groovin’ to Saturday Night Fever, I’ve tried to do the Jive Talking with little or no success and I’ve had teenage moments on the dance floor to How Deep is your Love, followed by a long journey home, feeling FOR SURE that I was in love. Who would have thought that I would one day meet the great man, Barry Gibb himself. We found ourselves in an Indian Restaurant not far from London. Barry Gibb’s favourite restaurant near his UK home. The interview that preceded the shoot involved a journalist who was looking for a ghostly aura around Mr Gibb with two metal sticks. Yes - this shoot was never going to be ordinary.

When I finally got Barry Gibb’s full attention I met a modest and friendly man. A man that seemed to be still buzzing from a recent performance at Glastonbury. A moment that would parr with some of his many big moments. This is a man who helped shape the fashion, music and style of the 70’s. This is a man who made hairy chests and open shirts sexy, he made skin tight flares the talk of the town and found a walk to match it. Yet - this is a man, that carried off being a man, yet having a voice 10 bars higher than the sweetest of angels. Barry Gibb did not only create timeless music that will always make people jump up on the dance floor, strut and stride, want to dance cheek to cheek and whispers sweet nothings…. but this man re-wrote the rule book of how to be a man. Respect!!!

Slash

Guess who!?

 A perfect design in himself. He can be photographed in silhouette, from above, from below, just a small part of him in a shot and in many other ways – yet there would be no doubt of who is in front of the camera.  A legendary guitarist and a walking, talking visual logo!
I was given a guitar showroom to shoot Slash in. I felt that it was too obvious, too cliché and maybe lacked proper character.  So – having noticed the parking lot as I parked my car, I found this location to be a lot more representable for this image of cool.
He turned up in a car with blacked out windows, the only way to travel when you’re as recognisable as Slash. Nice and chilled, and when I said I was from Norway he started to educate me on my own country and the history of Norwegian Horror films. To be honest – I didn’t even know there were any Norwegian horror films. So – I take my hat off to someone who gave me the soundtrack to 1992 and will continue to impress with his music for many years to come.