Recent publicity for the new movie about the Krays reminded me of this shoot for 442 in 1997. Lennon and Izzet were both playing for Leicester City at the time and on account of them always being together, as opposed to any suggestion of their ruthlessness on the pitch, they were humorously nicknamed "The Krays" by their team mates. Borrowing Bailey's sixties shot of the infamous gangsters for inspiration, I asked them to look 'hard' but it was quite an effort as they were both naturally more inclined to levity than menace. The original image was a black and white lith print from a medium format negative which gave an effect that I still love and have yet to find a way of replicating properly with a digital image.
Steve Curtis, Powerboat Racer
Sometimes I think I have a rather unusual job......until I meet someone like Steve Curtis, current and eight times Class 1 Offshore Powerboat Champion whose job as one of the worlds best throttlemen, is to control the speed of a five tonne boat worth half a million pounds, skimming the surface of the sea at 160mph. In 1993 he survived a catastrophic accident in the Mediterranean and managed to swim to the shore while the rescue teams, finding no body at the crash site, presumed him dead. When he casually mentioned that eight of his friends had been killed in the sport, not being a very good swimmer I decided to stick with photography for the time being....
Cider Makers of East Anglia
Robbie Crone, Charles Roberts and Tony Hobbs sampling Charles' Pickled Pig cider in Cambridgeshire. I abstained until later on at home, remembering that I had once tried some 'gas and air' pain relief on a shoot in a maternity unit in Glasgow and got halfway back to London before I realised that I'd left my tripod behind.........
London Air Ambulance
The problem with photographing an emergency response vehicle is that you can never be quite sure whether it will be there when you need it. This was my second visit to the London Air Ambulance - the first time, it had left for an emergency repair ten minutes before I arrived. This time I made it all the way up to the command centre at the top of the Royal London Hospital and was just starting to discuss my ideas for the shoot when, having been silent all morning, the alarm went off and the helicopter was scrambled - the timing was almost comical. Forty five minutes later, having successfully rescued a critically injured horse rider from West London, it was back.....but only for fifteen minutes before flying off again for refuelling, so once again I had a tiny window of opportunity to get the job done. This is why sensible photographers stay in the studio and shoot still life........the view from the helipad, however, was spectacular.
Hull
I wish I'd taken some nice pictures of the old town in Hull, as it's a place of some charm, and undeserving of its reputation as one of Britain's Crap Towns, but I didn't, I took pictures of mud instead and then went for a pint in a lovely little pub called Wm Hawkes' Alehouse. Half an hour later, as I crossed the swing bridge a hundred yards farther downstream from where I shot this, a woman and two dogwalkers were talking a suicidal man out of jumping into the River Hull - I didn't photograph that either. A strange day......
Alderney Tourism
Having battled indifferent weather and a strong, cold easterly wind for two days, shooting some lifestyle and tourism images on the Channel Island of Alderney, we ended up on the beach near Fort Clonque for a sunset shoot with local businessman Paul and his fiancée Claudette. Paul's son had come along for the ride and as we packed up they both wandered off to try and climb on to a rock that was still surrounded by the high tide, finally catching a break between the waves to clamber on. Mission accomplished they just stood there for a minute or two watching the sunset and talking as I rushed back to grab a few frames before they jumped off. Sometimes the best moments are completely unplanned.....
Excavator Buckets, St Sampson, Guernsey
Piled up in the corner of a yard at one of Guernsey Electricity's generator plants, the rusting steel in the warm afternoon light caught my eye as I wandered about killing time, waiting to shoot a portrait of the manager for an engineering firm's ad campaign..........
Turbo - Hamburg
The rather beautiful hot side of a large marine turbo - sad that such an elegant device spends its working life out of sight on the back of an exhaust manifold at 400℃
MSC Oscar
Spent a couple of frustrating days in Germany last week trying to shoot the MSC Oscar, the largest container ship in the world, for the Swiss engineering company ABB who make the turbochargers that keep many of these leviathans on the move, before finally getting the shot we wanted.........in Felixstowe.
Freight Terminal, Jadeweseport
Oddly enough, two weeks after looking out to sea in Essex I found myself exactly the other side of the Channel near Wilhelmshaven in Germany......with some time to kill
Bradwell on Sea, Essex
Low tide, looking east across the remains of the 7th century fish traps. Nothing between me and Holland except a wind farm.......
Pappardelle
Home made pappardelle drying in the kitchen - I love making pasta, it's dead easy and everyone thinks you're a genius. If only I could say the same of photography.
Economia
A nice cover and DPS in this month's Economia - the fruits of our rather stressful shoot described in the interview on Jan 9th. In the end of course, the only thing anyone remembers is whether or not the pictures were any good...........
Cats
When it was announced that Cats would be returning to the London stage and that the original team, Trevor Nunn, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gillian Lynne and John Napier would be back together again after 34 years, The Really Useful Group asked me to do a portrait of them all in situ at the Palladium. It's usually a nightmare working in a theatre - no lights, no power, dozens of technicians and cast all trying get things done and a fifteen minute window during a tea break to get your shot and this was no exception, but I still get a buzz from being behind the scenes at one of these venues. Cats has been running continuously, somewhere on earth, since 1981 - four years longer than I've been working..........
Planes, Trains Etc
Jamie Foster is the procurement director for Hitachi Rail and here he is being very good humoured about standing about in the cold at the draughty end of Platform 14 at St Pancras recently for a magazine shoot. Here's three facts about Hitachi. The name is derived from the Japanese for Sun (Hi) and Rise (Tachi). They are a multinational conglomerate with a turnover of around £60Bn. In addition to rather swish trains, they also manufacture the world's best selling vibrator. Not a lot of people know that......
Almost Famous.....
After a recent cover shoot for Economia magazine, I was interviewed for Content Cloud about the shoot and life in general. You can read the full interview here: http://desk.thecontentcloud.net/inspiration/snap-happy#.VK_Bu2SsUyU
Steeple Ashton
Back home for a weekend in Wiltshire - I remember buying petrol here when I was a kid........
Melvin
I had stopped for lunch in a cafe in Faversham after a shoot at the Shepherd Neame brewery when an interesting looking guy on a bike stopped in for a lemon & ginger tea, and after a few minutes I asked if I could shoot a quick portrait of him. Fortunately, he said yes............
Monreale, Sicily
Banyan Tree, Monreale, Sicily
Poggioreale, Sicily
