Who, or what, are your greatest influences?
It changes. I’m constantly being influenced all the time. I have to say my first influence was David Bailey, but at the time he was the only photographer I’d heard of. It was those ‘60s portraits he did of Michael Caine, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I first saw those in the library at school. I remember thinking I hadn’t ever thought of photography as something you could make a living from before, and that I could actually use a camera to make a living shooting something other than weddings. So that opened my eyes to all the people who were probably his influences, like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn.
I’d also say fashion people around in the early ‘90s, like David Sims, Mario Sorrenti, Glen Luchford – they’re all around the same age as me, but I think their work is amazing.
Having lived in the US, are you influenced by American culture?
Yes, very much so. They have a different way of doing things over there. There are a whole load of American photographers that really influence me, like Stephen Shore or Joel Meyerowitz. He’s a massive influence actually.
I have a book called American Photo that comes out every year, and that is full of photographers I admire. There’s a whole school of modern American photography that I like. I like editorial portrait photography where people get photographed in their environment, but they’re not actually the main part.
Thinking about it, the work I was doing in the US was completely different to what I do over here. I hardly shot any celebrity portraits. I did a few, but I wanted to enjoy photography away from that. o be honest with you I had to pretty much start from scratch once I arrived in New York.
Did you move to the US for your photography?
Yes, although I didn’t really plan to go as such. Initially I went for three weeks but ended up staying for six. Then I came back to the UK, before returning again for three months. I just thought, ‘ok I’ll stay here and see if I like it enough to live here’. I stayed for six years and eventually worked out that I actually didn’t want to live there, but yes – it was mostly for my photography really.
Will you work in the US again?
Yes, I will go back for work. I still do a bit for the New Yorker, but I won’t chase it. I don’t really have what you need to work in America. You have to be a go-getter and be so aggressive. When I look back at my time there, it is totally like the song: ‘if you can make it there you can make it anywhere’. People come and go, but you have to absolutely relentless in the US. It’s totally Darwinian. You either have to be a complete dreamer, or you have to want it so bad that you have nothing else in your life. If you look at the more successful photographers in the US, a lot of them don’t concentrate on anything else.
If I’m honest, when I was younger I was just looking around for a job where I didn’t have to physically work too hard, and I could get paid a fair amount of money for doing something that I love. And one thing I love is meeting people.
For me the best part of the job isn’t the photograph, it is everything before the photograph. It’s the phone call, meeting the person, going to the shoot – whether it’s three minutes or three hours. The photograph is just a record of a conversation, a result of a meeting.
So you are a people person?
Definitely. When I think of the people I’ve met and the kind of things I’ve asked them, it’s great: I’d never get to ask those kinds of things through an agent usually. Many of the people I’ve photographed often say to me that photographers always ask more pertinent questions than journalists.
At one shoot, Paul McCartney said something that really makes me laugh. It’s a little nugget that says so much about who he is, where he’s from and how he sees himself.
The shoot was in the week the congestion charges were brought in and he’d had to drive from east London through the centre of the city to get to the arena. I asked him ‘did you have to drive through the congestion zone? The fine is a bit of a pain, isn’t it?’ He looked at me puzzled and said ‘oh, the congestion charge, yeah. Well my house is inside the congestion zone, so I only have to pay 10 per cent’.
The point is, even though the world sees him as this millionaire Beatle, he still sees himself as this kid that grew up in Liverpool with no money. It just says so much about how he sees himself. To me, that meant more than the end photo.
Getty Images’ agency, Orchard, represent you. What have they done for your career?
One thing I really like about them over other agents is their corporate-like attitude. It’s actually a huge advantage.
Agencies are often run by one person, who has maybe five other people working for them at the most. They represent maybe a dozen photographers, and the agency will be dictated by the mood of the person that owns it. Orchard’s not like that. With other agents I’ve had times when for 10 days in a month I couldn’t talk to anyone because they were taking the bins out or making coffee or were in a mood.
Orchard is also a phenomenal resource. They will take care of all organisation for you, which can often be really hectic. They’re also not afraid to spend a lot of time out representing their photographers either. Getty Images are go-getters. Having the Orchard name behind me helps a lot.
Where do you see the photography industry going?
I have one real bother in the industry and that is retouching. That’s not to say I don’t do it. I just think that now that it is so accessible, and you can go so far with it, it’s ruining a lot of work. We’ve got to a point where every little thing is retouched, to the extent where nothing is real.
I think it’s having a bad effect on girls and degrading the quality of an image. I find even glossy mags like OK and Hello are now retouching paparazzi pictures, but only for the people they like. I do it myself in my own photography. Strangely though, I find that some of the celebrities I work with assume I’ll retouch them, and if I want to work with them again then it’s in my best interest to do so.
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