Wedding

I don’t have an enormous interest in photography. I’ve never seen what I do as being driven by the medium. I love fashion photography and I love prints, I love printing, typography and the prints together, I do love all that.

But in terms of what I look for inspiration, what I look for excitement, for a challenge, that doesn’t come from photography. I don’t have the heart felt desire to wallow around in photography. It’s just a medium.

So I don’t particularly want to be its defender or detractor. It’s been useful to me to express my point of view and incidentally there are things about it, which I enjoy. But as a public statement I don’t really have a ‘love’ relationship with photography. It was there as a means to an end.

Nick Knight

Nick Knight is truly an amazing photographer who has created some of the most striking and memorable fashion and portrait images here in the UK in the last 30 years. I used to photograph him often for Vogue back in the day when I used to shoot the Style, Party and People pages. He was always polite and charming and whenever I read about Nick Knight or read some of his own social media posts I see he has not lost that considerate, caring and thoughtful personality that I am sure has contributed to his great success. 

Before I was shooting for Vogue I used to imagine that I would one day assist him but feared I lacked the personality and attitude to be part of his team. I bet I would have failed at the first interview. I assisted some wonderfully talented photographers and I loved being an assistant but I’m not sure I would have been right for Nick Knight’s crew. I often failed on the necessity to be quietly working in the background, focused on the needs of the photographer and the client. Not shining too brightly and not too visible. I knew my assisting days were over when too often I was simply too loud and visible on set. I am sure Nick would have wanted to lump me over the head with his Gitzo tripod after just the first day in the studio. Essentially my personality would have need reigning in all too often. 

It’s interesting to hear how he describes the photography as a medium to express himself and a means to an end. He loves and is clearly fascinated by fashion and its photography that he is using to explore and express that interest. I'm sure he would have made just as much of a success if he had become a fashion designer or a stylist. And of course many great photographers are in fact stylists and have a keen sense of fashion. But he states he is not driven by the medium itself. He’s stimulated by where his photography can take him and the process of that journey rather than the photography itself. I feel that perhaps there is a similarity with myself in that I soon bore of talking about cameras, digital and tech jargon but am very keen to discuss the end product. That essentially is the art, the image and the journey of creation. I am so aware that many photographers get into photography because they love gadgets and technology and the entire machinery of picture taking. The boyish competition regards any machinery and the showing off of the latest kit and gadgets. None of this has ever appealed to me really and often on a job when a camera club enthusiast wanders over to discuss pixels and lenses and digital upgrades I either glaze over and just nod or make an excuse and exist fast. 

I look at Nick Knight’s incredible work and it’s clear that his influences are wide and varied and he draws on much in art and culture to express his ideas and imagination He is clearly incredibly cultured and visually literate and utterly fascinated by art, representation and the process of productivity. I imagine he is drawn to all those elements in other creative fields. I am sure that the connection of inspiration, creation and end product are all exciting to him in whatever field. I would love to know which are his favourite movies, who are his favourite designers, musician’s painters and so on. But as he says it’s just a medium and of course all creative people need a medium to express themselves or sometimes they need a few mediums mixed up together. 

What I would give to see into his creative process and what influences from what sources have triggered a particular photographic approach. What song, painting or movie got him pondering in what direction to produce what image? I have been seeing many of his still lives of flowers, which clearly look very painterly in quality. The texture and colour are amazing and one isn’t sure if it’s a painting or a photograph at first. I think any creative person would be curious to know the thought processing of someone as successful as Nick Knight. A look at Show Studio and its also clear that he embraces teamwork and the input of others in his creative process. I am sure that he fully supports all the young talent that comes to work for him and gives out so much advice and is an inspiring figure to all. I sincerely hope that he continues to be so creative and productive as a photographer.

I do love photography I feel and it’s my destiny to be a photographer despite all he challenges I’ve had to overcome and the difficulties of being a freelancer in this particular field. I'm not sure I could express myself in other artistic medium and have anything close to the same natural talent and skill set. I do hope that some of this passion and love for photography all came together to photograph Beatrice and Edmund’s beautiful wedding on the coast. As always it’s such a pleasure to leave London and head for the countryside and being by the sea on this occasion added a whole new energy and experience to the weekend. A lovely service at The Holy Trinity Church Bosham in Sussex followed by a lovely dinner for all at the family home.