youturnintoa technicianemployedto realisetheir
vi sion.I loveworkingon conceptsandfinding
solutions for companies, as this is when you can
demonstrate your creative ability. It’s very rewarding
to see your campaigns through from concept to
completion. One of my concepts for Turtle Wax
ended up as a TV advert featuring Joanna Lumley.
I handled every element of the production working
directly with Turtle Wax’s UK marketing team.What kind of photographer are you on set?
Some photographers are hands-on director
types, whereas others have a ‘let’s just see what
happens’ approach...
Let’s just see what happens! There’s no way on earth
that someone is going to allow you that freedom
unless you’re Nick Knight or Rankin. I must admit
that digital photography allows some photographers
to change the shoot as it goes along – making theiradjustmentsto lightingandsettingsto tryandfind
the requiredresult.I wouldneverwantto approach
a shoot in that manner. I command a daily fee and
produce usable work from the off.How does your time break down in terms of
shooting, editing and admin?
I struggle to remember how my time was spent
pre-internet. What the hell did we do in the studio
when there were no shoots on? I think we sought
inspiration from magazines like Vogue Italia and
found a great model to create some test imagery with.
Now I would say that the shoot takes up a fraction of
the time I spend. There’s so much more time spent
in post-production, and then the admin side takes
up a huge portion – just generating and maintaining
work. However, video shoots last much longer, as
does the editing of those shoots.How do professional models differ from ‘normal’
people and how do you adapt your approach?
They’re very different subjects to shoot. For starters,
a pro model will be so much more amenable to
direction, whereas a normal person requires a certain
amount of coercion to put them at ease. Having said
that, I’ve often ‘street cast’ for campaigns and it’s
worked out well. For example, for my first billboard
poster, featuring a girl with a shaven head upside
down, I needed a model with that exact look. At the
time in the early ’90s the crew cut style was popular
for girls, but to convince a top model to take the
blade closer to their skin was proving difficult, and
potentially incredibly expensive, like £20k including58 PRAcTIcALPHOTOgRAPHy
AboveThe fish
counter at your
local Morrisons
supermarket gets
the Johnny Carr
makeover.
Below Johnny’s
first billboard
involved a very
close shave and
a fashion designer
from Leeds.