Photographer Spotlight
Ever wonder how one might get started in cinematography or what kind of gear other professional photographers are shooting with? Calumet Photographic has met one-on-one with pros from around the globe to find out how they got started, what challenges they face and where their passion lies. Get to know professionals through interviews and viewing galleries online and in each issue of Calumet Focus, a bimonthly sales publication.
BRIAN ARIS
Recognise anyone here? Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, Bailey, Terence Donovan, Herb Ritts, Snowdon, Helmut Newton.
Thought so. These are some of the greatest names to ever work behind a lens. Undisputed photo icons all of them and you can add the name Brian Aris anywhere you fancy on the same list.
MARC ASPLAND
Remember when that hotel waiter famously entered George Best's bedroom to find him with Miss World, a bottle of champagne and a wedge of cash from casino winnings — and asked the football superstar: "So where did it all go wrong George?"
CHRISTOPHER BISSELL
You won't go down with swine flu but don't expect to spend much time with this exceptionally talented international photographer without becoming significantly infected by his enthusiasm, all-encompassing love of life, and total unswerving passion for the venerable profession of photography.
MICHAEL BIRT
Margaret Thatcher once remarked: "I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds—and I very rarely change it." So internationally acclaimed celebrity photographer Michael Birt counts himself lucky. He survived ten whole minutes 'up close and personal' with the iron lady at Number 10 in the late Eighties—and came away completely unscathed.
JEFF DOW
Let's say you're on a shoot and you're the client. Chances are you're worried about something. More than likely, you're worried about the budget, but you might also be worried about the strobe light that just crashed to the floor (and how much it will cost), or whether the shot will look anything like it's supposed to (and how much it will cost). And without fail, you're wondering what the heck the photographer is actually doing with all that equipment. But if you've hired Jeff Dow, there's a good chance you'll feel like you're on vacation.
HUNTER FREEMAN
Hunter Freeman became a photographer because he couldn’t stand not to become one. In college, he studied the sciences and even earned a BS in math. Throughout school, he was a self-proclaimed “techno weenie,” and it wasn’t until his junior year of college that the idea of getting paid to do great photography became irresistible.
SUSAN GEORGE
They Shoot Horses Don't They? Actress Susan George does. But she prefers to do it with a Canon EOS 40D rather than a twelve-bore shotgun.
The eponymous Oscar-winning 1969 film that recalled the gruelling dance marathons of the poverty-stricken Thirties Depression starred Jane Fonda, but it could just as easily have been Susan—a film icon of the Seventies who starred in the controversial Straw Dogs movie alongside Dustin Hoffman.
LAURENCE HUDGHTON
American humourist Calvin Trillin once remarked: "The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for 30 years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found."
DAN KENNEDY
Someone bought Dan Kennedy a slow cooker for his birthday but it's probably not going to make much difference. Celebrity and fashion photographer Kennedy (36) lives life not just in the fast lane--more in the 'overtaking on the autobahn' lane.
TREVOR LEIGHTON
"When it comes to hair and beauty photography, the girl is everything" Trevor Leighton
RAY MASSEY
'Pre Photoshop I carved myself a niche in problem solving techniques. I had a maverick attitude. Everything was possible to me' – Ray Massey
GARY MOYES
The Cold War is still going on for London-based action photographer Adrian Myers. But no superpower politician is ever likely to attend this man's special breed of 'summit' conferences.
READ MOYES' INTERVIEW AND VIEW HIS GALLERY »
ADRIAN MYERS
The Cold War is still going on for London-based action photographer Adrian Myers. But no superpower politician is ever likely to attend this man's special breed of 'summit' conferences.
READ MYERS' INTERVIEW AND VIEW HIS GALLERY »
CLIVE NICHOLS
He used to hate gardens and never lifted a fork in anger in his own or anyone else's backyard—as a matter of principle. Twenty years on, former chef and one-time travel photographer, Clive Nichols is at the very top of the tree of garden photography.
DAVID NOTON
David Noton is out. He could be anywhere. Maybe you'll get lucky and track him down to a fish market in Kuala Lumpur, an alpine hut in Switzerland or a sun-scorched Seychelles beach.
Try the Taj Mahal at dawn, a fertile French vineyard or an Italian hilltop castle. The Patagonian wilderness is a reasonable bet-and we know he was seen taking photographs in a sacred valley in Peru where the notion of nursery education involved local women tilling fields with infants strapped to their backs.
ALAN OLLEY
The plan was simple enough. Fleet Street photo-legend Alan Olley was due to meed hell-raiser Oliver Reed for breakfast at the Inn On The Park Hotel, London. the actor had just finished filming The Castaway and Olley was there to take a few press pictures and leave.
TERRY O'NEILL
If only Terry O'Neill had stuck with his original career plan he might have made something of his life. He should have been a Jazz drummer you know. At fourteen he was very good with the sticks. Instead he took up photography.......and then look what happened.
Ok, he ended up a Photo-god with (currently) sixty five pictures held by London's National Portrait Gallery.
BEN OSBORNE
Ben Osborne never feels at home in the city. Not surprising really when you've spent much of your adult life schlepping the globe's far-flung plains, oceans, rainforests and wildernesses with a digital camera, a handful of lenses and a tripod. You won't find this guy standing in line for a caramel macchiato at Starbucks or clothes shopping in the West End.
ROCKY POWELL
Being a director/cinematographer might have been in Rocky Powell’s heart long before it was in his head. He started out, of all things, as a suit at the London office of J. Walter Thompson, one of the most venerable advertising shops in the world.
READ POWELL'S INTERVIEW AND VIEW HIS GALLERY »
JOHN SWANNELL
John Swannell may be of slender stature but he's made a big fat impact on UK and international photography across a helter skelter working life that has spanned forty years—and shows no sign of slipping softly into the photo-sidelines any time soon.
TOOTH & CLAW
Peter Cairns used to run a road haulage business. Now his life is just about as far 'off road' as you can get. He traded dealing with 'road hogs' and traffic jams in favour of photographing sea eagles, wolves and foxes in their natural habitats.
His business partner, Mark Hamblin, used to own a sandwich delivery business in Sheffield, but now he too makes his bread photographing wildlife.
READ TOOTH&CLAW'S INTERVIEW AND VIEW THEIR GALLERY »
JAMES VELLACOTT
The brief from the Daily Mirror Picture Desk seemed straightforward enough. Fly to Afghanistan, stay a few days and use satellite technology to send back both stills and video feature material on how British forces were planning to spend Christmas.
CHARLIE WAITE
From one—time actor to internationally renowned landscape photographer, Charlie Waite truly believes: all the world's a stage. In The Moon and Sixpence, a classic work based on the life of painter Paul Gauguin, W. Somerset Maugham wrote: "Life isn't long enough for love and art."
TIM WALLACE
He was trained to shoot to kill. Now he's retrained himself and shoots to thrill... clients, classic car lovers and photo-enthusiasts across the world. North East-based Tim is the founder of Ambient Life Photography and in less than two years has built a formidable client portfolio and a compelling body of work.
DAVID WARD
David has travelled the globe in pursuit of his art; national parks across the UK, Scotland, Norway, France, Italy, Africa, Iceland?and more often than not camping in tents and getting up at four in the morning to catch the best dawn light.
ANTHONY WELLER
Award-winning architectural photographer Anthony Weller thought it was just another news story for a construction magazine-until a demented JCB driver suddenly turned his day upside down.
ANNABEL WILLIAMS
"Find the camera that suits you and a lens that you love ... then forget about it." Annabel Williams has a very candid and refreshing attitude to the Niagara of new technology that threatens to deluge the working photographer. "So much of what you hear about is how amazing the latest new gizmo is. I'm not interested in what it is or how much it will do — I'm interested in how simple it is to use and what kind of picture it will let me take."
