It’s not long since I stopped categorising my newsletters. One of the reasons I stopped was that some shoots just didn’t fit into my most common subject matter, and therefore got left behind. For example, I sat on a folder with politicians and topical/political journalists without ever sharing these. John Bercow was one of those shoots - shot a few months before the Covid pandemic came and changed the world forever.
John Bercow, aka “ORDER!!!!!” - made the ‘Speaker of the house’ into something more than just an orchestrator, keeping order in the houses of parliament during debate. Bercow became the man who shouted “ORDER! ORDER!” as front bench politicians squabbled and argued like children. He was the one who was able to control the politicians when they were not able to control themselves. And let’s face it, that was a regular reoccurrence. John Bercow became the face of sanity in parliament, a man who took the anonymous roll of “speaker” and made it into something else. This shoot was completed earlier this year and John was modest when I mentioned his achievements, and nice to work with. He seemed at times to be the only politician who could see the houses of parliament for what it is, and the politicians for how they come across to the average man in the street - as they argue and bicker like school children.
Shot for Observer New Review
It’s not every day you get a call to ask if I’m interested in photographing the creators behind Ghostbusters: “We’ve got a shoot with the Jason and Ivan Reitman - and they’re bringing the ghostbuster car and a couple of Proton Packs.” I know - it might not mean much to many of you, but if you grew up in the 80’s you’ll know all about the Ghostbusters, the Cadillac and the Proton Packs. Ghostbusters 2, also directed by the original director Ivan Reitman came out not long ago, but this 3rd film was directed by Ivan’s son Jason. So - there I was, in the backstreets of Soho with a couple of Proton Packs, (ghost busting guns for you who are not familiar with the films) in a hotel room and the Ghostbusters car in a small alleyway on the side of the hotel. I picked the alleyway because of its proximity to the hotel but also because it had a city vibe - without giving away what city it was. The first thing we found in the alleyway was a dead rat without a head. Nothing like a headless rat to set the scene for a Ghostbusting experience. (I did decide on cleaning this up before inviting the Reitmans over though - maybe a little too real for a Friday morning?!). I managed to get a local office to open its doors for me to get some electricity to start up the smoke machine, brought out some gels and then prepped the car for the Reitmans to cruise on into the shot.
Ivan and Jason turned up and I was ready. I placed them in the car and shouted “smoke!” No smoke came - and a look of panic spread along the photography team. The woman who had let us use the electricity socket had unplugged the smoke machine without letting us know and left the building. I started shooting whilst the assistants knocked on every door until they found a socket. The images I had hoped for were now finally coming in.
10 minutes later we had to rush up to the hotel room to get the Proton Packs shots. I had prepped the proton Packs with lights and was ready to explore with long shutter speeds to get the laser beams working. Consistency and authenticity was of great importance for Jason but we got there in the end. 10 minutes later, all ghosts were busted and the Reitmans could leave the building. Phewwww. All I now had to do was to pack my equipment down and dispose fo 15 ghosts stuck in my Ghostbuster trap and safely dispose of them in the Echo-Containment System. The problem is I’m not sure where the Echo-Containment System is so I’ll keep them under my bed for now….
Shot for G2
Many people have managed to sail through this epidemic without any major loss. Of course, we have all felt it to some degree, but some of us have really felt the impact. Kate Garraway is someone who has really suffered from having a loved one contracting Corona virus. Her husband, diagnosed early on in this epidemic, was in a coma for 11 months and is still suffering from issues related to Covid. Kate has always been very honest about her experience and shared her story with the world. In this book Kate talks about her experience watching someone you love suffer from Covid and the terrible effects it can have on people and the family of the effected. A pleasure working with Kate on this cover, where I was trying to show the vulnerability of Kate as well as her strength and resilience when faced with a terrible personal struggle.
Shot for Penguin Random House
It is always a pleasure getting to work with the team from Cook Magazine in Italy. We have been on many trips and photographed many of the world’s best chefs together. However, this time I was commissioned to photograph the team behind the magazine having Christmas dinner. The dinner consisted of a meal that each member of the magazine associated with Christmas.
For this shoot I arrived in Milan late on the Sunday, Monday morning, bright and early, we took over a section of the exclusive Ginori Chinaware store and got to work dressing the Christmas table. A full team of set designers, flower arrangers, hair and makeup and food stylists were there to help create this feast.
Everyone sat down and I started to photograph. I wanted to suggest that they all raised their glasses and said ‘cheers’ - and I got some blank expressions back. I repeated myself a couple of times before I realised that they all thought I was saying ‘cheese’. The look of disappointment, ‘What has this pandemic done to the photographer - reverting to the good old classic cheese phrase?!’ A look of relief came across everyone’s faces when they realised that I was just trying to get everyone to raise their glasses. Glasses were raised and laughter washed over the uncomfortable quiet caused by the one minute confusion.
A large group shot, 6 individual portraits and 6 plates later - I jumped in the taxi and headed for the airport, back to London….
Shot for Cook Magazine, Corriere Della Sera
