Uppingham School

I love the people I photograph. I mean they’re my friends. I’ve never met most of them or I don’t know them at all, yet through my images I live with them.

Bruce Gilden

I can certainly relate to this quote by Magnum photographer Bruce Gilden. When you shoot people throughout an event you are often watching them very closely. You are listening to their conversation and watching their expressions as you wait for the perfect moment to release the shutter. You have licence to essentially stare at them for ages and with a reasonable distance get into their personal zone. As a result you often get a feel for someone and form some opinion of him or her. I love people watching and can happily sit in a café for hours and just watch people go by. This is a passion that comes in handy when shooting faces. I am essentially interested and fascinated by people and take an interest in them. I wonder how event photographers who are actually shy and don’t particularly like people manage. Surely not particularly well if they don’t like crowds, being social and meeting people. I have watched some timid wedding photographers shoot receptions on long lenses from the edge of the ballroom or garden as if they are shooting wildlife in the Serengeti. They never desire to come close and make contact but see their subjects as if they are rare animals and can be observed and captured from a safe distance. I think those shots can work well but they need to then be balanced with more intimate and revealing images. It needs to be a happy balance of such images that create a pleasing combination and tells a more interesting and creative story. If the entire set of images are shot on a long lens from a distance its pretty soulless. I prefer to interact, form a connection, get close and capitalise on any such moment by shooting a response that may reveal character, laughter and so forth. Not all the time of course but again it’s about mixing it up. I do however take an interest in people and am naturally very curious. This curiosity I hope feeds into my thirst for images that reveal a persons character.

Bruce Gilden talks about living with them and I understand what he means here. You spend a lot of time observing people and much of the day shooting them repeatedly to get great reactions and coverage. As a photographer you also watch their progress throughout the day from the moment they arrive in all their splendour full of anticipation, excitement and wonder as the celebration begins. And as they day unfolds and the alcohol intake increase you see the change in their behaviour and demeanour. You see a transition and different sides to their character. You witness people become very emotional during key moments and often become overwhelmed often by such an event. You witness people fall in love or lust, become disappointed, bored, high and delighted. You then spend days and days processing the images. Enlarging their face, retouching their skin, knowing their creases, lines and spots and essentially looking at them for hours. You may then spend a while creating albums or making prints and dealing with orders. You do feel that you know that person and are so familiar with them. As Bruce Gilden points out that for many of the subjects you don’t really know them but for sure for a time you live with them. I can’t say I always feel they are my friends and some of the time it’s a face I don’t particularly want to be looking at constantly. But then yes, there is sometimes beautiful, kind, happy faces that I never tire of looking at and it’s a pleasure to see them again. I have odd prints of people dotted around my office from events. Kids faces often instantly make me smile. They are strangers and I don’t know them but I’m fond of their smile or I just get a good vibe when I see their face. In that case I ponder well yes, in a weird way that stranger is a friend. Not in the conventional sense obviously but in the way that art becomes a support to you and gives you companionship.

I also ponder how I often form an opinion of someone whether they are a celebrity or not, based upon studying them constantly during an event and having to photograph them repeatedly. I do feel that I’m a good judge of character and feel that these moments of watching someone, listening to them and being in their company for so long can help reveal their character to you, Certainly more so than say the moment a celebrity is in total control during an interview for instance. I have been shooting famous people my entire career and have had some telling moments where celebrity’s actions have massively helped me form an opinion of that person and nothing will change that. I have had some humorous moments particularly during the Vogue days when it was on a weekly basis that I was covering some key happening event. Friends of mine have heard me tell my story of a certain British male actor who made my job a total misery one evening. Whose arrogance and rudeness has left me rolling my eyes and swearing under my breath every time I see his smug face on the big screen. You would think that shooting for Vogue would command some respect but not for that shallow arrogant chap.

For every celebrity who has left you feeling bruised and insulted by their rudeness and arrogance there are those that have left me feeling the opposite and their charm and positive nature has affirmed my respect and affection for them. I may not be able to name the rude male actor (Its not written in law but I may need to shoot him again and the tabloids love any gossip) but I can certainly name one of the good guys. I recall being asked to photograph David Bowie for Vogue at the original Design Museum. Tom Ford was hosting the event and David Bowie was the key guest. I was stood there patiently waiting after having shot a few other celebrity guests and stood back to let the party unfold and take shape. As I stood there I felt someone leaning into my personal space and I heard a very familiar deep voice right next to me. The voice asked me what all these people where here for and what all the fuss was about. I turned to see David Bowie grinning at me right in my face. I immediately went with the joke and explained that we were all waiting for some show off celeb singer and apparently he was some big household name. I chatted to him for a while and it was all so odd as he appeared to be in no hurry to join the party. The two of us stood on the edge of the party watching it for a while having a little chat. As I left that evening I remember wishing that I had replied to Bowie’s question that we were all there to celebrate the man that had invented the ‘Bowie Knife’. The party was in the Design Museum after all but hey…I was too slow with that one. That little connection with Bowie has always stayed with me and naturally left me with a warm positive impression of a very talented, generous and gifted man.

But it’s not all about the celebrities. My favourite people are those that simply treat me with respect and kindness. The families I have done multiple shoots for and keep calling me back to capture so many key family events. There is a lovely family who have asked me to shoot all three children’s weddings. There is another family, for whom I have covered countless family events for the last 15 years or so from bat mitzvahs, to 21st to 40th and more. The families that praise my work when due and who make me smile when I see them.

One client that I certainly do cherish and who I receive more than enough thanks and respect from is Uppingham School. This blog features images from the last annual reunion at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, London. This particular party was special as guests were celebrating 50 years of Richard Boston working at the school. For a few years now I have been shooting their London reunions and events. We have built up a good rapport and working relationship and I absolutely love shooting their parties. I have discussed this in previous blogs and I certainly hope this wonderful relationship continues. I see the same guests at each event and for sure feel that I know them well as I shoot them so regularly and then spend hours carefully retouching the images. They have become very familiar and as Bruce Gilden says ‘I live with them’. This year I was invited to the after party at Tramps nightclub and due to carrying a fortune in camera equipment and feeling somewhat exhausted I declined and headed home. But as I write this blog in self-isolation in the national virus lockdown I wonder at what I would give to be at one of London’s most famous nightclubs with a hundred OU’s who are absolutely charming and hilarious. There would dance, cocktails, beautiful people and laughter and as I venture into the second month of isolation, well what I would give to be there right now.