subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 00 Month 2019 31
I asked him to do. As I always
do, when I’m allowed the time,
I photographed him in a range
of poses, from tight portraits
of his face to full-length shots.
I had him wearing the
sunglasses, juggling tennis
balls, sitting on the floor and
bouncing tennis balls against
a wall, and finally in a sharp
suit holding a bunch of orchids.
I was shooting with my
Canon EOS 5D Mark II and
a 50mm lens, plus a range
of lighting including natural
light and ringflash. I knew the
studio well, so it wasn’t difficult
to work there. I knew the best
places to use for daylight and
artificial light, and I was just
trying to get as much variety
as possible in the shots.
There’s nothing to be gained
in cutting a session short if
everyone’s enjoying themselves,
and as we had him pretty much
all day I just kept going and
trying different things. It also
gives a magazine designer a lot
of material to work with.
The Sunday Times Magazine
published about five of the
images. They didn’t include
this shot (left), showing Boris
in the sunglasses with a
surprised expression, with his
mouth open, against an orange
background. Even though it’s
a headshot, it’s very different
from the images of him that
we’re used to seeing, and doesn’t
even look much like him, so
I think it’s quite interesting.
Like many of the other shots
taken on that day, you can see
Boris is playful and doesn’t
take himself too seriously.
Afterwards, I posted every
shot in a YouTube video –
you can Google ‘Boris Becker
shoot’ to see the complete
range of images.
As told to David ClarkThe stylist on the
shoot managed to
source these quirky
sunglasses for
Harry’s shoot with
Boris BeckerHarry Borden
Harry is one of the
UK’s finest portrait
photographers and
his work has been
widely published.
He has won prizes
at the World Press
Photo awards
(1997 and 1999), and was awarded an
Honorary Fellowship by the RPS in 2014.
The National Portrait Gallery collection
holds more than 100 of his images.
Visit http://www.harryborden.co.uk