Julian Calder is a portrait photographer with a studio based in south west London.

As I am getting towards the end of my photographic life, I have created this website to feature my pictures from that llfe. This website is not a selling tool, although I am quite open to commissions!

Since my childhood I have loved pictures. I got my first camera in my late teens and have loved photography and the craft of photography ever since. Once I had mastered the technology - the choice particular a lens and how its ‘personality’ enhanced a picture - and understood lighting in all its forms: day light, window light and all types of studio lighting, I was confident that I could create what was in my mind’s eye and make a photograph, not just take a picture. A camera is bound to take a likeness. I am trying to take a portrait that is true to the subject’s personality at the time I take it.

The pictures here span my entire photographic life, from the early 70s right up to today. Many were commissioned, but I always tried to take MY picture.

For most of my life, I have photographed people.

In the last eight to ten years, I have developed a particular style.

I am committed to the end result and I have a vision of the finished portrait in my mind’s eye although I’m not locked in by this. If, through the process, a better idea emerges I will alter my approach. My main aim is to capture people at their best. Lighting is so important whether it be God’s light or my lighting, it should give the subject form and volume. Also, I try to be kind!

For me a photographic portrait is so much more than a big head! Of course there are exceptions. Irving Penn, Karsh and Avedon and Bailey are masters of the black and white head shot. So many portrait painters choose this route. They may be lucky enough to have several sittings and the picture can take weeks or even months to produce but a portrait photographer may only have 40 minutes – so I have to have done my homework in advance. If possible, I like to have recced the location, have the right lighting equipment and be confident about what is going to work by eliminating any negative surprises. I have a photographer friend who does the exact opposite. He likes the tension of not knowing!

The subject is the hero, not the photographer, and I strive to take more than a likeness, ensuring that everything in the picture adds to the overall composition. There should be no visual rubbish and there are no tension points – everything needs to support or add to the narrative.

There is no right way or wrong way of being a portrait photographer.

Everyone develops their own style.

My Services

Both on location and in my studio in Putney.
For book publishers and magazines.
In either my studio or, I can build a studio at your place of work.
I have acted as a picture editor for several photographers who produced books of their own photographs
I have had much experience producing bespoke books either printed by litho or digital. Many of the books had interesting covers and blocking. The finish was all important as the books were commemorating special events in the commissioning peoples lives.