Just for the record

The excitement will never quite be replaced-my first credit, in print on something other than Oxfam news. Got I was excited! Whilst still at college, I somehow managed to blag my first real job to photograph the seminal reggae band Steel Pulse for an album cover. When I say seminal, I had no idea who they were. We met (along with my co-conspirator Mike Hogan) at their nearby recording studio in Frensham in Surrey. I remember them looking at this ghostly white pair of scrawny teenagers and asking us, 'What do you know about reggae music then?' 'Er, Maxi Priest??" said Mike. Somehow we managed to leave with a spoken deal and plan but no discussion of money (funnily enough). Cut to several weeks later and we are shooting together in a nearby sand pit with them on horses on 10x8" neg. The lead singer's hair was wrapped so tall that we had to find a car with 3 tiers of seats and he sat with his head at right angles. Quite frankly, I had never come across anyone quite like this lot. Job done, we printed and printed on huge sheets of expensive fibre paper for our composite image of genius.Delivered by mail in huge envelopes, we were chuffed to make it all work. Several months later I found myself running at full pelt to the local record shop (remember them?). Grabbing he album from the new releases, the mixture of pleasure and pain fell over me: The cover, our cover, had gone to be replaced by a scrappy montage. But wait-the picture on the back was ours YES SIR! Running back to college I breathlessly handed it to Mike poking at the picture excitedly. "They used it!" 'Where's the credit?' pointed out Mike. "STEEL PULSE PHOTOGRAPHED BY MIKE HARRISON AND MARK HOGAN". Nuff said. PS. Now here is a timely update-STEEL PULSE rang today asking for imagery and stories from this session for their history film. HISTORY! I'm old!! It did make me (and Mike) track down the original images, though. Here is the first concept cover. Made by hand (no computers) whilst at college don't you know-

Popular posts from this blog

When an image ends up going viral..

Image
Just occasionally, I will shoot an image that gets picked up a creates a (minor) Twitter moment, and I see it gaining a life of its' own. This image of the MP Jacob Rees-Mogg (Brexit enthusiast) is one of those moments. Shot originally for the Times Magazine, it was only when the Guardian reproduced it in a profile piece, that it got picked up on social media. The author and journalist Bonnie Greer reposted the image along with much praise, and before I knew it, it was bouncing all round the internet. The picture was then reposted by celebreties whilst being endlessly adapted by a few (cruel) Photoshop geeks, who added flames and comments on to my original image which gave it extra life in a new form. Following multiple online suggestions that the National Portrait Gallery should buy it, I added the image to a list of suggestions that I was already in the process of sending the gallery. To my suprise, the NPG  recently agreed to acquire the image (p...
Read more

Sir David Attenborough met a lion.

Image
The thing about a commission is that it is rarely straightforward. A while back, Radio Times called to ask if I would like to photograph Sir David Attenborough (again), but with a few 'props'. Hmm,props ..ah yes of course-lion cubs, nice and easy. The idea developed into a simple Lion face/David face picture, except of course, you can't quite plan what might happen. We turned up at David's house on a rainy day complete with backdrops and the usual disturbing amounts of kit. David looked worried when he saw it all. 'Can't we just do a quick snap in the garden?' he said. 15 mins later after much convincing, David let us in to set up in the available space. Thing is, I just wasn't sure exactly what was possible. The lion keepers suggested that milk might be the answer, but endless shots off a milk bottle would not be ideal.  So, lights up and a table in place, I started to try and direct the shoot. Big mistake. David immediately engaged with the...
Read more

What do you mean the snow's not real?

Image
'daddy, what do you do all day at work?' Well, this is what our dear Tom Gormer at the mag made of it all- BEHIND THE SCENES WITH NIGELLA The inside story of this week's cover shoot Stylist's Photography Director Tom Gormer - and now cover star, sort of - reveals 10 things he learnt on our Nigella Lawson photoshoot 1. The theme of the Stylist shoot was a ‘behind the scenes’ of Nigella's Christmas, hence my cameo appearance on the cover, blasting fake snow all over the studio. Best. Job. Ever. 2. What you don’t see is the snow machine is leaking and I am covered in a weird smelling liquid chemical 3. Nigella keeps little bags of retro sweet in her handbag. She gave me a cola cube. Twice! 4. A very long discussion was had about the perfect chip. French fries? Homemade proper chips? Chip shop chips? This was before I had seen the brilliant episode of Nigella Kitchen where she ‘cooks’ chip shop chips in bread with hummus. 5. I was also under STRICT instructions not to g...
Read more