Role Models: Holly Johnson & Su Pollard

I recently shot a couple of portraits for an Attitude 'Role Models' feature.
Three Journalists were asked to meet and interview the people who inspired them whilst growing up.

For Paul Flynn, that is Holly Johnson from the band 'Frankie Goes to Hollywood' who found fame (and controversy) in the mid 1980s with their debut single 'Relax', later followed by the number one hit, 'The Power of Love'.

We shot Holly in Brompton Cemetary one sunny weekday morning (those seem to have disappeared now the Winter is setting in right?).
Holly was immaculately styled and groomed and on very good form and, despite a sleepless night, was an absolute pleasure to shoot. I did the typical photographer thing and wanted to carry on shooting and shooting even though i had LOADS of good shots already, but Holly was very gracious about it. I will post the out-takes and my favourite shots when I go through them properly.

Brompton Cemetary is also a very pretty location. After the shoot, I changed into my running clothes in my car (yes, i got a few strange looks from passers-by) and went for a quick jog around the Cemetary.....this activity comes highly recommended and is also a great way to relax after shooting.

I was then sent to photograph English comedy actress Su Pollard, of 'Hi-di-Hi' and You Rang, M'Lord' fame, at The Hexagon Theatre in Reading (also known affectionately as 'dreading' to Su ..... am i allowed to say that?!).

At the time Su was performing in 'Annie' which I believe is now touring the country. Su was a riot; eccentric and entertaining as ever and very easy to shoot. It was fun listening to her stories and also hearing about Simon Marks' (the journalist) childhood obsession with 'Hi-di-Hi'.

The Drums - You Magazine

A couple of months ago I shot 'The Drums' for You Magazine's 'In a taxi with....' page.

Having seen The Drums twice over Summer, once at The Kings of Leon, Hyde Park concert and once at Barfly, I was quite chuffed to be shooting them.

I managed to shoot LOADS in the allotted half an hour, even though the boys were tired from non-stop touring, jetlag and in the middle of a punishing press day. I will post more outtakes from the shoot soon.

And if you haven't heard of The Drums, look them up and get listening. They are GREAT!

The Private View....

Me finishing off putting the show up, the Private View (which was super busy) and me with the parents and my work......

Exhibition Preview....

One more day left to see my exhibition up at The Truman Brewery.

I've had a good response to my work and it looks quite striking on the wall.

Below are some pictures (although they don't quite do it justice - you must come down tomorrow to see it properly - and if that isn't enough to tempt you, how about the fact that I'll be there too?!)

OK, here is the blurb:

The selected images are derived from two projects brought together to make a single piece of work.

This exhibit examines modern day living across the world. It explores the spaces we create and inhabit, and alludes to issues of isolation prevalent in contemporary society.

The portraits were shot in London and San Francisco and the landscapes in Paris and Singapore. This is an ongoing body of work and Alex continues to shoot for this project.

All work is for sale, please inquire about pricing

Photolounge

I am taking part in Photomonth 2010 which is an annual East London Photography Festival.

This year I will be exhibiting some personal work at 'Photolounge' at The Truman Brewery on Brick Lane.

I have a big space - 13ft x 10ft - and I'm quite excited about it - going to show some new work I think - so do come down if you can. If you would like to come to the Private view, drop me an e-mail and I'll put your name on the list.

Ooo -er missus! My photo has a moment of fame...

My photo is starring in a film in LA!
Well it's in the background - although their is one scene where there is a close up shot of it. And below is the moment of fame being captured. The film is called 'The Perfect Family'; the script is good, although i probably can't disclose details at this point....more news as I have it......

The shot is 'Hannah and Liz' and it is from my Untitled series or 'Special Project' as it is called on my website. I am currently looking for exhibition space or to sell this and 1 other framed image (Kate and Shar) in LA so if anyone knows of anywhere, do get in touch.......

Paul O Grady

A few weeks ago I shot Paul O'Grady at the Hilton Hotel by Tower Bridge in London. This shoot was lots of fun, it was so great to meet Paul and hear his stories (of which there are many!)

We slated the Pope's visit, talked Gay rights, and voiced our disgust at the cuts set to happen under the new Government! Don't get me started!......

.....Oh, we also had lots of laughs.....

Line Dancing in Paris

Last week I went to Paris and came across the most unusual occurrence. Whilst walking around La Defense, Paris's business district, I stumbled upon a group of line dancers in the mall.
This would have amused me anyway, but it seemed all the more bizarre because they had chosen the business district for their little dance. And it was lunch time so the mall was filled with suits, who seemed equally amused when walking by.
Anyway, the line dancers were having a whale of a time and a few of them were kitted out in cowboy boots and hats. It was great (I must confess, i am a secret line dancing fan!)
Here is a quick video i recorded on my iphone to show my friends......

The Perfect Interviewee Part 3

Here is the final installment from the Perfect Interviewee series. This one is my favourite, i love it when the model looks like she might rock off her chair. And I also star in this one - and manage to look bloody ridiculous of course. But it makes me laugh and i hope you will be amused too.

Gok Wan out-takes

Here are the out-takes from my shoot with Gok Wan a while back.......

The Perfect Interviewee Part 2

Here is installment number 2 in the 'Perfect Interviewee' series. I was camera and lighting (DOP) which was great. Really want to do more film stuff.
Anyway next week the 3rd and final installment of this series will be out - and it's the most entertaining by far!

Happy Gays! - The shots

Here are some of the portraits from the Attitude 'Happiness' feature.....

A day with the animals

Yesterday I spent some time with the following fellows.......This was just a test run for some ideas I have to build on my Animal Portfolio. I have also been shooting tons of horses recently too which I will post up soon.

The pigs were scary by the way, they have sharp teeth and as the farmer told me, they have a nasty bite. The farmer wasn't actually there but he said I was free to jump in the pen with them. Everytime they grunted at me, i was expecting an attack but it seems they were only interested in chewing stones and thankfully, i don't resemble a stone.

And watch this space for well styled portraits, the first one to be featuring Ollie the Owl....



look at those gnarly teeth! you wouldn't want that going for you!








The goats were highly entertaining - they didn't seem to mind me jumping in their enclosure at all and in fact took advantage of having me around to rub against. It seems they get itchy and i make a fine scratching post. Who knew?!!

Happy Gays!

I shot a series of Portraits for the August Issue of Attitude Magazine. The theme is Happy Gays and the guys range from age 17 -60 and all have adorable stories about why and what makes them happy.
It makes such a change for a magazine article to feature regular people talking about why they are happy, I found it quite refreshing.
I'm also at a stage in my life where I'm finding a lot of happiness in the small, yet ever so important things around me, so it was nice to reflect on that and think about the things that are making me feel content at the moment.

The Perfect Interviewee part 1

A couple of months ago I shot 3 corporate videos for a company called SKS. This is the first in the series, about looking good and presentable for a TV interview....more to follow......

Abstract Singapore

I've been meaning to go through the landscapes I shot when I was in Singapore earlier this year and finally got around to having a look at them.

Earlier (back in April) I posted my inspiration shots. The earlier shots were taken from a moving bus as I was trying to figure out what kind of project I wanted to shoot in Singapore. This meant they were more like snapshots. Below are my more considered shots.

My interest lies in abstracting the landscape and making it appear more graphic through my photography.
The buildings and landscape of Singapore held a certain beauty for me although it took me a while to find it. This is due to Singapore being so 'created' and commercial, which is not typically inspiring for me.

Now of course I want to go back and shoot more!