Travelling Mercies

“Travelling Mercies” is a recent album from husband and wife duo Ashton Lane, and it topped UK Official Country Artists Album Charts earlier this year. I was approached by Esther and Tim last summer to photograph and design the album packaging. The shoot took place last September in one of my favourite places, Mugdock Park. In fact, I keep meaning to do a separate blog devoted to sessions I did there over the years (and there have been many), hopefully I’ll get to it soon. Anyway, back to Ashton Lane, I always get a bit nervous when my brief for a Glasgow based shoot includes words “outdoors” and “sunny” simultaneously - I may have many tricks up my sleeve but controlling the weather isn’t one of them so all you can do is hope that you’ll get lucky. And lucky we were indeed - it was a beautiful sunny evening, perfect for what we were trying to achieve.

Behind the scenes:

GEAR
Nikon D850 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4

Bare Knuckle

"Bare Knuckle" is the title of Chris Stout & Catriona McKay's new album. It was released last December to unanimous critical acclaim and the duo has just been nominated for BBC Radio 2 Folk Award 2018 (Best Duo category). I've worked with Chris and Catriona for many years but "Bare Knuckle" was definitely the first time I was involved in their project to such extent - from promotional photoshoot to album artwork and promo posters, from filming the title track's music video to covering the album launch at Queen's Hall in Edinburgh. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to my work so being able to oversee every aspect of this album's rollout (creatively speaking at least) was truly rewarding. It's also been an absolute pleasure, sometimes a challenge (I'd never done a music video before) but above all a genuine privilege to work with artists of this calibre who also happen to be really decent human beings. 

ALBUM PROMO

ALBUM COVER

LIVE AT QUEEN'S HALL

CELTIC CONNECTIONS PROMO

Christine Bovill Album Promo

I've written about working with Christine Bovill, the chanteuse supreme, on a couple of occasions (here and here) but we actually go way back. When I was a student in the early 2000s, I used to work at this Italian coffee shop in Finnieston called Espresso. Christine may be best known for singing in French but she also has a soft spot for all things Italian and was a frequent visitor at the café as she lived nearby (she named her debut album Derby Street after all). Eventually, I quit that job, Christine moved flats and we lost touch for a decade or so until we bumped into each other at a function in the summer of 2013 (she was singing, I was taking pictures). After so many years it took us a while to figure out how we knew each other but it eventually clicked - Espresso! What followed was not only a brilliant working relationship but also a treasured friendship.

When Christine Bovill was getting ready to release her sophomore album The Sentence That I Serve, I was brought on board to oversee the whole visual side of the project - from photographing the recording process as well as the single/album covers to designing the CD packaging and finally filming the EPK. It was a lot of work but I couldn't have been happier to be involved.

EPK Video:

Recording/Rehearsals (with The Strange Blue Dreams):

Single Cover Shoot:

Album Cover Shoot:

Miss Jackson and The Getaway Driver

Had an extremely productive Sunday for a change - finally managed to sort out that mountain of paperwork I've been moaning about for months! Kind of had to be done, really, as I'm moving flat soon and wasn't prepared to take that burden with me to the new place... Anyways, I thought I'd do a bit of a flashback post this time around and write about a project I was involved in earlier on this year, before I started this blog. I mentioned Jill Jackson a couple of times here (for those unfamiliar with Jill, she's the hot ex-frontwoman for Speedway), I've photographed her on numerous occasions over the past few years and I always enjoy working with her and her team but there was something particularly special about the "Getaway Driver" album project.

We started with a small promo shoot in January. It took place in an abandoned warehouse situated above a fishmongers so not only it was freezing cold but it stank of fish as well. We had a 90s R&B playlist to keep us going however and Jill soldiered on:

Later that month I went into the recording studio with Jill and her band (Lisa Tring, Fraser John Lindsay, Lorna Thomas and Johnny MacKinnon) to document the process of making the album. I love music as much as I love photography so I'm like a kid in a candy store whenever I get a chance to be involved in such ventures. Norman Blake (of Teenage Fanclub fame) can also be seen in a few shots here:

When all that was done it was time to shoot the album and single cover. We used a vintage Mercedes sitting in an Arnold Clark warehouse in Glasgow (previously on display at the Transport Museum apparently). Apart from it being ridiculously cold (recurring theme it seems) the shoot itself was pretty uncomplicated - all natural/available light, a reflector and one very cool lady:

Jill Jackson, "Getaway Driver" Single Cover

Jill Jackson, "Getaway Driver" Album Cover

The cover artwork was designed by The Print Box in Glasgow and the album was eventually released in May. It's probably one of my favourite records of 2012 - I may be biased, I admit, but I'll stick by it! In fact, my friends and I loved one of the tracks so much we decided to shoot our own music video to it. Heavily influenced by ABBA and late 70s kitsch in general, it involved a lot of wigs, cut out disco balls, sequined accessories, dancing and, inevitably, fizzy! The fact that MTV Video Music Awards ignored it in this year's selection is beyond me: Drag On The Line

Right, is this a long post or what? I think the subject matter was worthy though! Next time I promise something brand spanking new. Cheerio till then! PS. For my other work with Jill Jackson feel free to have a look in this gallery.

The artist & the photographer