Chris Floyd
Chris Floyd has spent the last decade travelling back and forth to the US getting up close and personal with the world’s rich and famous
Words Georgie Woof pictures Chris Floyd
We all know it’s good to have a little variation in our lives to avoid becoming complacent, but Chris Floyd seems to have continuously chopped and changed throughout his photographic career. From following John Kerry on his election campaign around the US, to shooting the cast of Shameless, the most volatile politically incorrect sitcom there is, Floyd has been across the pond and back more times than you can count. After a break from snapping the rich and famous he’s now back and settled in the UK, shooting those in the limelight again.
GEORGIE WOOF: How did you get into photography?
CHRIS FLOYD: My dad had a camera, a Pentax ME2, and the sight of the thing used to really fascinate me. It had all these dials and buttons to press, it just looked so scientific and technical, but he’d never let me touch it. He thought I’d break it. Eventually he let me take one picture on holiday, and as I didn’t break it he gradually let me use it more and more until I just kind of owned it myself. When I was about 17 I built a darkroom in my parent’s garage and was given an enlarger as a Christmas present. My godfather worked in colour repro and decided to show me how colour printing worked. After that I just started printing, sometimes till six in the morning.
How did you first get into shooting celebrities?
Well music was my first big passion and there was this music magazine I liked called Select. I started getting my book together and would just call them up. I went to see the art director about five times, but he’d never say much. He’d just sit and nod at me, mumbling that he liked what I’d done and that if I got some new stuff I should give him a call. This went on for about a year – he was non-committal, yet encouraging. Not the kind of person that would turn you away if you wanted to see him. Eventually he gave me my first job: a shoot with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer on a boat trip along the iver Thames.
Who would you like to photograph most?
Any American president. I followed John Kerry on his election campaign. I went everywhere he went, even on his plane going from place to place. I found that fascinating. I don’t really think there is anyone in particular I’d drop everything for. Sometimes a name will come up in conversation and I’ll think ‘ooh I’d love to shoot them’. But I never chase after it, there’s no point: my work is always commissioned.
Is there anyone you have formed a close bond with?
No. There are celebrities I have photographed on more than one occasion. And they may or may not remember me. I have this other personality when I work. He’s called ‘Photoguy’, and he is the person I’m not when I’m at home. Photoguy doesn’t stop talking, because you have to keep people going. He never stops asking questions, he has a manic energy and it’s kind of exhausting. At the end of the day I have to have a drink! In reality I’m laid back and quiet – I have a split personality.
Has Photoguy always been there or did he develop with time?
No, Photoguy really came into his own when I got married. Also, after I got married I found it so much easier to photograph women. I couldn’t before. I found, when you photograph women, especially the type of women I photograph, I have to make them look sexy, attractive, beautiful and desirable, and to make them look like that they have to feel like that too. You completely have to massage their egos and bring out their femininity until it’s hyper: almost femininity on steroids! I found it difficult when I was single because I didn’t want them to think I was coming on to them. Having my wedding ring, and maybe my screen saver as a picture of my kid, really helped. It’s a cynical thing to say, but I found once a woman saw all that they felt less threatened and more relaxed.
