I was chatting with a friend yesterday and they reminded me about this photo that I took 9 or 10 years ago when experimenting with the idea of how far can you reduce a portrait. I still like it.
portraiture
Family Tree /
This summer was my mum and dad's golden wedding anniversary. With the whole family gathered in Liverpool to celebrate I took advantage of the moment and photographed all their sons, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren. Here's a little selection.
What Paul Daniels told me about halos /
Paul Daniels was a really lovely guy to photograph. He was warm and friendly, and incredibly generous with his time. I met him in his dressing room before a show and Debbie McGee was there, repairing his jacket. There was the obligatory magician's rabbit hoping around. It was everything I could have hoped for from a meeting with the celebrity TV magician of my childhood.
As we walked down the street to where I wanted to take the portrait Paul started to explain to me the origin of the halo. He explained that back in the day sculptors started to add disks above the heads of their famous subjects to prevent their face from becoming awash with bird poo. With time this purpose was forgotten and the discs were simply associated with important people, and then in turn saints.
Now, a lot of my knowledge comes from stories like this. Often the stories are told to me in the pub where alcohol may have been consumed. Despite the world wide web being on my phone, in my pocket, I don't fact check these things. Wikipedia is not consulted. Had I referred to Google I would have found countless articles about the origins of the halo, almost none of which refer to bird excrement. But then why let facts stand in the way of a good story?
Sybarite Architects /
A couple of weeks ago I did a portraiture shoot for Sybarite Architects of their new staff. I quite like this one.
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We Built This House /
Two years ago today I visited a building site in South London where architects Jessica and Robert were creating their new home. You can see more of the finished house on the architect’s website.
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After Redundancy on BBC’s The Culture Show