Portrait Archive
Most of these portraits were taken on film and most were commissioned. When using film you were expected to fill the frame, so if the picture was cropped there would be a loss picture quality. Now, with digital, you are able to make the finished picture match the idea you had in you mind’s eye,. I don’t retouch faces, but I do ‘clean-up’ the background or, on occasion, shoot elements and then stitch them into the finished picture.
This set of portraits are of people who still sleep in the room they were born in. The project has taken a few years as I found all these people through word of mouth. These days, there are probably fewer and fewer people who spend their whole life in the same house.
Jeremy Allan in the bedroom of the family's 17th century farm house, dressing for a days shooting
Linda Doyle in the bedroom she was born in that is now the spare room in her family home. She stays there when visiting her parents
Frank Bagnel, Derbyshire farmer
Charlie and Polly In the bedroom they were both born in
Robert Plant, the mayor of Leek, and his wife.
David Hill in his house in Polruan, Cornwall. His grandfather built the house and three generations of the family have slept in this room.
Hilda Critchlow, Derbyshire farmer's daughter, reading birthday greetings on her 80th birthday
Peter Morris in his Battersea flat in London
Moolly Campbell with her grandchildren
Tom Barker, Shropshire farmer
The Reportage Portrait
This a photo story portrait, made popular in the great days of Life Magazine and sadly not popular today which is a great shame as it requires the photographer to be immersed in the subject over a period of time to ‘build’ the story.
I heard that Margaret, this midwife, was about to attend in the region of her 500th home birth. I went to two births before this one, but they were not quite right. This third one was perfect. It happened through the night with very dim candlelight and soft music. It was a very moving photographic experience.
Two weeks before the birth, the midwife checks all is progressing normally
About three hours into the birth
A few moments before the baby is born
The newborn baby's heart is checked to ensure that all is normal
Imber Church on Salisbury Plain. The village - now abandoned - is in the middle of an army training ground and is only open to the public on a few days a year. This lady, who is nearly blind, was born in the village and she is visiting her parents' grave. Her father was Vicar of Imber.
San Fransisco - on assignment for Nova Magazine. Taken on a favourite lens, the 35mm f1.4. Being so close to the subject nearly always gets a reaction
David Bowie - Milton Keynes Bowl - Time Magazine taken on 600mm from the back of the crowd
Keith Flint of The Prodigy taken in the 'pit' in front of the crowd.
Advertising
I only did a limited amount of advertising photography and what I did usually had a very loose brief. The pictures below were for Camel Cigarettes and to bypass the ban showing people smoking, Camel invented an adventure travel company. I got this job as I had worked with the army. The pictures were taken in Venezeula around Canima Falls.
Camel Adventures Canima Falls Venuzuela
Camel Adventures One of ten adverts. Here are five of them.
Photographed at Cincinnati Airport on Labor Day. The camera is in a fixed position: the planes were put in position first, then the bits of hardwear and then the people. I could direct everyone as there were 5 people in the pictures with radios.
I worked for magazines for many years. The art directors usually had an idea of how to illustrate a feature. There is a most enjoyable creative relationship when working with a like- minded creative person. This portrait was to illustrate a feature on office security.
The City Remembrancer, Paul Double KC, does a final check in the Guildhall for a State Dinner for the King of Spain
Benazir Bhutto, then Prime Minister of Pakistan, sitting in the President's Chair in the Oxford Union. Her father was also President of Pakistan and both were assassinated.
Gareth Pearce in his home office, a few weeks after he had retired as a Chief Executive. I like to photograph my friends in this considered way.
My friend and neighbour, Dr Jonathan Botting with two of his cars.
Sir Richard Branson for Time Magazine
Richard Branson with Sir Richard Burton, John Hurt and Suzanna Hamilton, on the set of the film of 1984 for Time Magazine
Professor Stephen Hawking - Cambridge University for Time Magazine
Lord Rothchild in his London office
Commune couple - Oxidental, California
From a series of portraits entitled Nature's Couples
Nude walking downstairs Homage to Marcel Duchamp
From a series of 'A nude in landscape'.
Donald Sutherland at home for Nova Magazine
'Waiting for Charlie' - the Manson Girls outside LA Court House - for Nova Magazine
Jonathan Pryce as Hamlet and Alan Howard as Henry II, Royal Court - for Time Magazine
Shepherds in the Hindu Kush, Pakistan
Kafir Kalash girls living in the Bombaret Valley in the Hindu Kush, Pakistan. The picture on the right has been on the wall at home for 30 years and I think it is my favourite picture. For me it works on several levels. Firstly the memory of just trekking to this remote place and then I spent two days there. I noticed these two girls when I first arrived but decided not to push my request to photograph them till the next morning. I was familiar and unthreatening and as a result of a gentle approach, they were happy to pose. It was such a good picture that I took two rolls. I think their ancient customs and language have now all but gone
Yorkshire Dales Hill Shepherd for Farmers & Growers Barclays Bank
Finlay McInnes, a game keeper wearing a 30 year old Harris tweed suit for a story on tweed
The Director of the National Trust for Scotland on site of the the Battle of Culloden.