Favourites and Firsts

Favourite types of music: 60s Soul, Indie/Alternative, Jazz.

First film seen at cinema: The Empire Strikes Back – Left half way through on grounds of being too freaked out by flashing lights.

First film seen at cinema which you didn’t leave halfway through: Annie.

First record bought: Dallas / Knots Landing Theme tune 7″

First concert: The Kids From Fame at the NEC, Birmingham.

First show: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamboat at The Haymarket Theatre, Leicester.

Favourite artists / bands: Changes all the time, but: Otis Redding, The Zombies, The National, Eels, De La Soul, Springsteen, Marketa Irglova, Aretha Franklin, Nils Frahm, Talk Talk.

Favourite owl: Eagle Owl, but recently I saw some Burrowing Owls which stole my heart.

Photographic Influences: Yousuf Karsh, Arnold Newman, David Bailey, Vivian Maier, Henri Cartier-Bresson

Favourite Artists: Seurat, Joseph Wright of Derby.

Favourite Aspect of Job: People. Whether it’s the relationship with clients or if it’s a portrait session then my subject, I just like people.

Least Favourite Aspect of Job: Accounts! (don’t tell my accountant).

Most unusual job I’ve ever done: One of my favourite jobs was going out on a rather hectic lifeboat around an abandoned pier to photograph various aspects of it for the developers. Of course, cameras and lenses don’t really mix with a fast moving lifeboat (complete with a rough sea), but I got away with it and loved it.

This was taken years ago when I was just starting out, it was my first introduction to the world of TV and film. It was taken for a short ITV film called The Four Seasons and as you can see, it starred Tom Conti, Michael Yorke and Frank Finlay. It was a whirlwind of a job and we took some great photos. The brief was to create a David Bailey style photo of the stars of the film which was then printed out large and used as a prop on the film set, absolutely loved it.