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Harry Borden
Harry Borden is
one of the UK’s
finest portrait
photographers. He
has won prizes at
the World Press
Photo awards
(1997 and 1999)
and in 2014 he was awarded an Honorary
Fellowship by the Royal Photographic
Society. The National Portrait Gallery
collection holds over 100 of his images.
See harryborden.co.uk.mine, David Bradshaw, who at
the time was creative director
at Versace menswear. David
brought a lot of Versace outfits
for Tom and Dustin to wear.
It was nice to meet Tom
again and I took along some
prints of him and his family.
Given the level of fame he had
achieved in the intervening
years, I was expecting him to
be a prima donna but he
wasn’t. As in our first meeting,
Tom seemed quiet and difficult
to read, but at the same time
very likeable and with an
undeniable aura of glamour.
One of my favourite images
from the second shoot is of him
sitting on the edge of a bed.
Although I used ring flash and
other lighting for some of the
shots we took, this one was
only lit with daylight from a
side window. I used my Canon
EOS 5D Mark III and favourite
portrait lens, the 50mm.
Some of the outfits and
scenarios David suggested
were quite extraordinary and
involved Tom wearing next to
nothing, or in one instance, a
silk shirt that almost looked
like a negligee. I think because
I had photographed him
before, he trusted me and was
more inclined to agree to some
of the unusual scenarios David
and I suggested. We also took
Tom and Dustin outside and
photographed them standing
beside the A13 on a winter’s
day wearing Versace outfits.
Although Tom was (and is) a
national treasure and images
of him were a great addition to
my portfolio, he was helpful
and very easy to photograph.
I was also being well paid to do
it. For a portrait photographer,
jobs don’t get much better
than that.
As told to David ClarkThis portrait, lit only
by daylight, is
Harry’s favourite
from his 2015 shoot
with Tom Daley