portraiture & celebrity photography Nov 2016

As a portrait, fashion and artistic photographer, Alexander Popelier lives and works from his photo studio in Ghent (Belgium).

With an ever-present eye for light and pose, he is able to work out very wide-ranging ideas, yet always with a recognisable signature. One of the characteristic features of this distinctive style lies in his capacity to capture the in-between-ness of moments: being technically perfectly skilled, the beauty of his images lies not only in their timelessness, but also in spontaneity. By capturing the right glimpse of the individuals he portrays, Popelier manages to translate their serenity into vision. Subject and environment are moulded into the right portrait.

Alexander Popelier is a creative mind who carries his fondness for picture making with him. Next to his fashion and portrait work, he has an elaborate personal oeuvre, wherein he breaks the rules of his commercial work and seeks for a more unrestricted photography.

Blake Little is an award-winning LA-based photographer known for his ability to capture the energy and personality of his subjects.

Starting with his portrait series of artists, it includes David Hockney, John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha. Blake has photographed celebrities including Tom Cruise, Mike Myers, Jeff Bridges, Donald Trump, Julianne Moore, Steve Carell, Samuel L. Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Colin Powell, k.d. lang, Brett Favre, 50 Cent, Glenn Close, Jane Fonda, Jack Black, Adrien Brody and Jane Lynch, among many others.

His work has appeared on movie posters, magazine covers, book covers and in major ad campaigns. His corporate clients include Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Virgin Atlantic, and more.

Recently, Blake's 'Preservation Series' of fine art photographs captured international attention with successful gallery shows, while the accompanying video caused a social media sensation with more than 2.75 million views on YouTube. Visit the website for more information. 

Brian Ach blurs the lines between editorial and commercial photography by telling moving stories with still pictures. From travelling with the late musician Prince as his tour photographer to portraiture with top celebrities, Brian is equally adept on location, in his New York studio, or behind-the-scenes.

His relaxed demeanor, vast skill set and efficient problem-solving ability - honed through experience in a wide-range of shooting situations - enables him to deal with the diverse challenges inherent in a shoot. This experience pays off whether shooting portraits, travel, automotive, or music. 

His work has been seen in Rolling Stone, People, Time, Worth, Entertainment Weekly, The NY Times, and major newspapers and magazines around the world.

When Brian isn't behind the camera, he is usually behind the wheel of his '73 BMW 2002Tii with his wife beside him and Pancake the Maine Coon, waiting for them at home.

Brian Bloom is an award-winning commercial and editorial photographer whose work was most recently selected in 2014 by American Photography 30.

At the root of his creative process is preparation. Beginning with hyper-focused pre-production, location scouting, and attention to minutia, it ends with an on-set environment that allows his subjects to be at ease for Brian to capture authentic, spontaneous images. He photographs landscapes, celebrities, athletes, and real people with a passion and affection for the unfiltered truth.

When he isn’t shooting, Brian can be found cycling in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, attempting to keep up with his wife and five-year-old daughter.

Select clients include American Airlines, Lenovo, Alcatel-Lucent, Runner’s World, Dell, and Gadget Software. Brian is a Media Partner for 1% For The Planet.

New York-based, award-winning, advertising, entertainment and editorial photographer Dale May has been creating iconic images for over 18 years.

Best known for his richly stylised, character-driven, conceptual work, Dale has captured some of today's most recognisable personalities, including Daniel Day-Lewis, Charlize Theron, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Radcliffe, Elizabeth Banks, Jared Leto, Amy Poehler and Christina Aguilera.

Most recently, Dale has photographed ad campaigns with Danny McBride (East Bound & Down, Tropic Thunder) for Southern Comfort and John C. McGinley (Scrubs, Office Space, Platoon) for Speed Stick.

Currently based in Milan, Enzo Dal Verme has been working in the photography industry for over 15 years.

His work has been published in Vanity Fair, l’Uomo Vogue, Marie Claire, Glamour, The Times, Grazia, Madame Figaro, Elle and many other magazines.

Specialising in editorial, portraiture and fashion, he is known for his strong images with simple composition and sharp lighting. His subjects often sport an intense and still expressions that has become a sort of signature of his work.

One more thing: he loves tofu.

Hayley Fisk is an award-winning published photographer and photo retoucher living and working in Los Angeles, CA. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Fisk moved to Los Angeles in 2012 to pursue a career in commercial photography and retouching. She has worked for prestigious companies including Fox Sports Network, NFL Network, Reformation, and Guess Inc., performing both photography and/or retouching services.

Currently, Fisk owns her own photo business, Hayley Fisk Photo, a one-stop shop for photography and retouching services specialising in fashion, commercial, promo, brands, and portrait photography. She has covered prestigious fashion events including the spring 2016 FWLA, Art Hearts Fashion, Style Fashion Week, and the La Jolla Fashion Film Festival.

In addition, her runway and editorial work have been published in magazines and websites including LA Dreams Magazine, Apparel News, and DNA Magazine. She was also announced as a winner of the 2016 International Portrait Photo Awards contest, an extremely competitive award.

Along with fashion, Fisk is a staff photographer with National Geographic working on various projects to help raise awareness for all wildlife including endangered animals and animals living in wildlife sanctuaries.

Taipei-born, Hawaiian-raised Howard Huang's unique mix of a sharp creative vision and veteran technical prowess has catapulted him to become one of commercial photography's fastest-rising stars. His models emerge as warm and sexy, with a touch of glamour and lingering drama.

"I am always thinking of a narrative behind the shoot, because I prefer creating images with a powerful emotional impact. It has to be something that makes you feel a sensation: whether it's sexy or surprising, or even a disgusted feeling. But no matter what, it has to attract the eye instantaneously."

Howard's client work ranges from campaigns for Nintendo, Verizon and Panasonic to Times Square billboards for fashion brands like Southpole Clothing and Lot29. His dramatic, high-concept images have graced the books of iconic American authors and also appear in Vogue, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Interview, ID, Paper and Vibe.

Jay Brooks’ work, with its distinctive sense of humour and atmospheric lighting, is a popular choice with celebrities - from Hollywood stars Alicia Vikander and Ben Kingsley to Great British export James Corden and national treasure Nadiya Hussain.

He is a portrait photographer with keen attention to detail and a unique cinematic style, learnt from both his study of set design and his vast experience within the worlds of film, TV, theatre and advertising.

Jay has a great continuing relationship with BAFTA, as well as having his work gracing the covers of publications such as The Guardian Weekend Magazine and Vanity Fair on a regular basis. He also frequently works for The Old Vic and Ambassador Theatre Group to produce their promotional and advertising shots. Four of Jay’s images are also in The National Portrait Gallery collection.

Jay is represented by Shoot.

Whether it’s having eight minutes to capture Kate Winslet, or disarming road-weary rock stars, award-winning New York-based photographer Jayme Thornton feels his way into the tiny openings of insight that make great portraits.

Recent clients include Comedy Central, Sony Music, Def Jam Records, Italian Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Jason Wu, Hugo Boss and Rockport.

New York-based advertising, editorial and corporate photographer Keith Barraclough is energetic, engaging, professional and personable. His creative and collaborative style, as well as being able to work in numerous fast-paced, high pressure environments makes him a valuable asset to a wide range of clients.

One of Keith’s passions is working on personal projects. His most recent being 'The Redhead Project', whose portraits showcase his ability to capture compelling images of everyday subjects while putting the camera-shy at ease.

For more images and information visit his website.

"I'm Kelly of Kelly Elaine Photo. I've been told that I'm great at helping people to emote, which is why my portraits and campaigns usually look very authentic and full of feeling.

We've had some super exciting projects lately! One clothing campaign I shot last month for an up-and-coming L.A. clothing line, Paper Machine, was featured in HUF Magazine. I recently had a photo from a music artist promo shoot featured in Marie Claire Kazakstan, and I've been photographing a lot of musicians. By far one of my favorites has been Leon Bridges.

My portrait style is really great for promo use. If you see Justin Timberlake, tell him to call me. When I'm not photographing, I'm spending time with my bass player boyfriend, going to shows, hanging with friends, and trying new restaurants."

Ken Sax is an American portrait photographer of Hollywood celebrities, that have included Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Vin Diesel, Don Cheadle, Hugh Jackman, Christopher Nolan, Meryl Streep, Kristen Stewart, Will Smith, Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson to name a few.

A native to California, his reputation has been built on his eye for lighting and a rich history of advertising print campaigns for Saatchi & Saatchi, Hakuhodo, JTW, Dentsu, Young and Rubincam with clients that have included: Coca-Cola, Honda, Canon, Olympus,Totoya, along with HBO, Paramount, CBS, Universal, Fox Broadcasting, Warner Bros, Lifetime, Twentieth Century Fox, and E! Entertainment.

In additon to his credits, Ken’s work has been in editorials of magazines and publications around the globe; GQ, Elle, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, RollingStone, US, Time, People, Newsweek and L'Uomo Vogue.

Larry Rostant is a commercial and editorial photographer based in London. His unique and eye-catching photographic style is always in demand from clients requiring bold and dynamic imagery.

With a distinctive and creative use of lighting, meticulous preparation and attention to detail, Larry is able to deliver the the very best results within a relaxed and enjoyable studio atmosphere.

Larry has shot a wide variety of artists in the sports, music and celebrity world including Ben Stokes, David Weir, Norman Cook and the legendary Dame Edna. His work continues to receive critical acclaim both in the UK and internationally.

Keep up to date with his latest work, follow Larry on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Lorentz Gullachsen’s recent work has included film-based portraits as well as working with medium and high-end digital formats.

He enjoyed success with his Marsh & Parsons award-winning campaign and has had an image selected for the Association of Photographers Awards with a personal portrait of Sir Tim Rice.

His recent subjects are as diverse as a Lord, a Knight, farm workers, corporate executives, doctors, celebrity chefs and Alice in Wonderland!

"I love the challenge of a five-minute session, or the luxury of a studio session with a full crew. The essence is capturing a moment when the subject reveals something special; a rare glimpse into the soul of the subject, it's not truth but an insight."

Lorentz is based in Stratford on Avon and London. He is happy to travel the UK and beyond for advertising and editorial commissions.

Born and raised in Southern California, Michael Scott Slosar took his first photography course in 7th grade and didn't stop there. After attending Northern Arizona University and Brooks Institute of Photography, he moved to Brooklyn, NY in 2002 to pursue his career.

Michael loves to travel and be on the go, and gets restless if he stays in one place for too long. This is why he currently splits his time between NY and CA.

Michael wishes the world was still film and Polaroid and believes film is the new vinyl. He loves anything vintage, "classic", and/or antique and never misses a good BBQ!

His clients include Toyota, Lacoste, British GQ, Playboy, Sony Records, Ed Hardy, Zoo York, Puma, Asics, Honda, Acura, Time Out Magazine, Italian Vogue-Black, Procter & Gamble, Bridgestone, Hollister and Abercrombie.

Nikolai Linares is a Danish photographer based in Copenhagen. He graduated from the Danish School of Journalism in 2012 and has worked for clients including The Danish Royal Theatre, Stern Magazine and Kopenhagen Fur.

As a photojournalist, Nikolai has travelled the world and contributed to national and international editorial pieces, photographing many well-known models, actors, musicians and celebrities.

In 2016, Nikolai won the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards for his sports portraiture and also has five nominations and two wins at the Danish Picture of the Year Awards.

Photographer PEROU shoots portraits of some of the most iconic names in music, sports, fashion and Hollywood. Based in London, working worldwide, PEROU is a camera eye for hire, hustling a living out of being a photographer and director and also making the occasional TV show – he was judge and mentor on ‘Make Me a Supermodel’ and star of E4’s Dirty Sexy Things. 

He even followed Marilyn Manson on a world tour and directed the award winning rockumentary 'God is in the TV'.  He has said that he would like to think that there isn’t anyone that he wouldn’t photograph. If time wasn't an issue, he might actually get around to photographing 'everyone'!

PEROU’s ambition has led him to photograph for some of the world's super-brands and celebrities, actors and musicians and has photographed advertising campaigns for the likes of adidas, Pearl Drops, Benetton, Investec and Nair.

He regularly gets commissioned to photograph portraits of fashion legends and editorial features for Vanity Fair, The Guardian, GQ, Dazed and Confused and Esquire. In 2016 PEROU won the photography category run by Creativepool Annual for his personal project 'Coulrophobia' – a series of self-portrait photographs of clown faces by renowned make-up artists and MAC cosmetics.

Rob Simeon is a photographer based in West Australia where he shoots advertising and editorial work for clients on both sides of the continent.

As much as he enjoys shooting still life and landscape, it’s for his portraits that he is best known. The series featured in this Spotlight is from a personal project he is currently working on.

A multiple award winner, Rob's work is held in the Australian Photographer’s Collection and also the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

It’s The Times Magazine covers all the way for Robert Wilson in this Spotlight - an impressive line-up of Tom Daley, Piers Morgan, Michael Gove, Jamie Vardy and his wife Rebekah, and David Cameron.

For updates, follow Robert on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Robert is represented in London by Catherine Collins.

With his constant craving for adventure, insatiable appetite for creative media, and vigorous desire to immerse himself in different cultures, American photographer Tom Epperson has helped revolutionise the vast landscape of art and photography wherever the tide has taken him.

Although currently based in Manila, which has been his home for the last 30 years, Tom grew up in Huntington Beach, California. He began his career in animation for Hanna Barbera before moving on to Australia, Korea and the Philippines. After reading an article in American Photo about French-born photojournalist and war photographer Katherine Leroy, Tom instantly decided to leave his job in animation, a job that spanned 14 years, to become a photographer.

Tom headed back to Manila in 1990 and put up his own studio, Tom Epperson Photography, which, over the past 20 years, has been a recognisable name both here and abroad.

Tom's bold and imaginative work makes him one of Asia-Pacific’s most sought-after photographers. Over the last 25 years, he has developed a unique creative photographic style combined with precise digital skills.

Willie Petersen is a freelance photographer based in Denver, Colorado. He spent a decade in New York working as an art director in advertising before discovering his real passion in photography. His dynamic and colourful advertising, editorial and fine art work has been featured in magazines and museums across the country.

Willie loves to explore new ground and works with teams and clients looking to push the limits of what can be done.

Willie’s photography has won multiple awards including the Ad Club and Art Directors Club Photography Awards.