Q & A
Where are you based?
I live in the Town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire right on the edge of the idyllic Peak District and I also have a space in my manager and producer Mark Georges office in London.
What is your go-to/main/favourite camera and lens combination?
This depends on whether the shoot is stills or film, for film I use just about every Cinema EOS camera and lens combination and for stills I have several go to cameras including 1DX MKII, 5DSR and 5D MKIV and depending on the type of shoot I will use one or two on the same session. My go to lens and the one I have quite literally built a career upon, is the 85mm 1.2 L. If I had to make a choice on just one camera body, it would be the 5DMIV
Why is this combination your favourite?
The 5D MKIV has multiple capabilities from high resolution which is good for making fine art prints through to incredible low light capabilities and then to cap it all can shoot 4k video with Canon Log 3. The 85mm f1.2L prime is admittedly not everyones choice but for me I love the optics and speed of this lens but above all i love it’s focal length which I use for both portraiture and landscapes.
Can you reveal five other pieces of kit that can be found in your kitbag and briefly explain what you like about it/why you have/use it?
Lenses: 35mm 1.4 L essential all round lens which is excellent in low light and great for portraiture and landscapes. 24-70 f2.8 MKII and 70-200 f2.8 MKII zooms, two lenses that have a excellent range of focal lengths and the results look like primes. Additional equipment: I always carry a small reflector and some see through cloth to help control difficult lighting situations. And lastly a Hoodman loop which helps me focus on the viewing screen when previewing picture playbacks, especially useful in bright light.
You were a graphic designer for 20 years, what was the trigger that made you switch professions to photography?
I still am a practising graphic designer and I always will be. I’ve found my decades as a designer have helped hone a skill for very quickly assessing a scene and then deciding what will and won’t work. I like to think of myself as a designer with a camera. In the early 90’s, I had shot stills and films for the Royal Geographic Society in the High Arctic, amongst Polar Bears and Icebergs. I also worked as a cameraman for BBC TV and in particularly Blue Peter, climbing in Scotland and on the Eiger in Switzerland, but I never went professional. It was simply down to a lack of confidence. I had commissioned and art directed photographers for years until finally in 2003 a chance event changed my life. I agreed to help at a charity event on the Scottish Island of Islay. We were rowing old sciff boats around the Island (famous for it’s whisky), picking up whisky from each of it’s, then, eight distilleries and creating a blend to auction and raise money for the RNLI and Children’s Hospice for Scotland. I had agreed to design the label and a photographer friend agreed to do the shoot but he broke his leg a week before and rather than let everyone down I hired two cameras and did the photography myself. It was a seminal moment, which gave me the confidence to begin a career as a photographer.
It’s been said your photography career really kicked off when Nick Knight first spotted you taking photos at an event – how true is this and if it is true, how instrumental was Nick in helping you forge a career? Please tell us about your relationship and experience starting out.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Nick Knight lunched my career. I had been working with Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy and Moet and Chandon as a designer but my passion for photography had lead me to taking my camera everywhere, including some very lavish Moet parties. One such party was to celebrate the then 25 year career of fashion photographer Nick Knight and so I took along my 5D and 85mm f1.2L prime and shot a series of candid reportage pictures, all in low light, which at the time was all very new, as literally every other photographer was using flash. Moet sent my edit to Nick and he phoned me the next day and within a few weeks I was shooting backstage at London Fashion week for his online fashion magazine SHOWstudio.com. I then became Nick’s set photographer which led to me working directly with his clients all over the world. I still collaborate with Nick and SHOWstudio but these days its moving image.
Nick saw something in my work and I also think he knew he could trust me and we got on. I was always sensitive to him and his team as well as the models and knew when to take pictures and when not to. I remember when he first commissioned me I asked what is the brief and he said there isn’t one just do your thing, which is typical of him seeing something in you and encouraging you to develop that unhindered by any other influences!. Nick is well known in the industry for finding new talent and has launched many successful careers. His confidence in me and encouragement led to an equally huge break that was my long time friend Mark George taking a keen interest in my emergent career. Mark is one of the most influential and experienced photographers agents in Europe. He has represented legends of photography, including Bert Stern, Richard Avedon and Terence Donovan as well as, for the past thirty-five years, Don McCullin. Mark was not aware I’d been secretly shooting stills, thinking of me up until this point, as a designer. Thankfully, he started representing me immediately and still does to this day. He is one my closest friends, agent and producer and without him I would not have had the career I have today.
Your work is known for its atmospheric and ethereal qualities, how do you instill this sensation within your images?
I am obsessed with light and it is almost always natural but of course you need great subject matter whether it be a portrait or landscape… but when you get this combination just right there is a magic that takes place. And when you combines this with the right camera/lens choice (the lens usually being a prime and the aperture quite narrow)this for me becomes a winning combination.
Which photography award or commission has meant the most to you and why?
My most memorable shoot was a chance encounter with British movie icon Terence Stamp in a London tea room. I introduced myself and to cut a long story short, As I didn’t have my camera with me, I convinced him to come back the next day so I could shoot his portrait. He did and I photographed him in two locations. Firstly at the tea room and secondly, at a film director friends house in Soho. Both shoots entirely in window light over a four hour period, with the first 40 minutes just drinking tea and talking about his career and filmmaking. An incredible experience. I came away with a set of some of the best portraits I have ever taken.
What was it about fashion and beauty portraiture that first captured your attention, and what maintains your interest in it today?
Initially that was all I was shooting given my introduction into that world through Nick Knight, so I gained several years of invaluable experience on sets and shooting backstage, often in very challenging situations. The clients were amazing and so experimental, ranging from MAC Cosmetics, Silhouette Eyewear, Louis Vuitton to Roksanda Ilincic and D Squared, to name just a few. This grounding and working so soon at such a high level, along with Nick and his wife Charlottes’ encouragement, gave me a great deal of confidence. Now my work is incredibly varied from photography, to print and filmmaking with clients including LVMH, Aston Martin, Hackett, RNLI and of course Canon.
What has been the most important lesson (in relation to photography) you’ve learnt during your career?
I learned very early on that preparation is the key to success and nothing comes without a great deal of sacrifice and hard work. Combine this with collaborating with like minded creatives and investing both time and money in personal projects will lead to getting commissioned.
What has been the highlight of your career?
The highlight of my career so far has been my ongoing project to photograph the people and landscapes of the Island of Islay in Scotland. This project has led to many new friendships and also introduced me to the crew of Islay RNLI, who have allowed me into their world and given me some of the most incredible and memorable experiences of my life. It is very humbling being in such company and being accepted as part of the team is without doubt a lifetime achievement.
Please can you share a couple of your fashion and beauty photography top tips with us?
Fashion and Beauty is just part of what I know but the same tips apply to any shoot. Preparation is key, do your research and have a clear vision of the outcome, even if this changes. Going in with an idea is alway better than winging it. If you can, then take time to get to know your subject or sitter and find some common ground, as so often photography isn’t about the technical but more about inter personal skills. Learning to edit our work is amongst one of the hardest skills to develop and it’s vital to know what to keep and what to loose always going for a less is more approach, it’s better to submit three great pictures than twenty average ones! From a technical point of view, I always shoot raw and edit and post produce the majority of my work in Adobe Lightroom. As a rule of thumb I would say that my pictures are around 60% capture and 40% post production i.e. I always give my work a look and feel and set myself a brief no matter what I’m shooting aiming to create an emotive and engaging result that is both relevant to the subject matter and how I interpret it on each shoot.
If you had to sum up what a ‘Clive Booth’ image was/or what key elements it had to have – what would you say?
Most importantly for a photographer or filmmaker to be successful, they need to stamp their DNA into their work. i.e. they need to have something unique, a little different, special and something that sets them aside from others and it’s this something that hopefully gets us commissioned and just as importantly commissioned to shoot projects that are relevant and meet our particular style. This is always my goal and something I continue to work hard at. For me it always comes back to atmosphere in whatever I do and of course you must not forget that you are trying to tell a story.
Can you name five people (living or deceased) who you would have loved/love to photograph?
I would have loved to have photographed Stanley Kubrick but especially on a film set. Predictably 2001 would be my first choice, but Barry Lyndon and the Shining would come equal second. I’d probably have been a bag of nerves but what an incredible story that would have been. I look back on members of my family and friends who have died in particularly my father and wish I could have used the skills I have now to have immortalised them for myself. Others include any or all of the Apollo Astronauts, who all played such a key role in my childhood, growing up thinking that anything was possible if you allow yourself to dream and don’t listen to those who tell you otherwise.
Can you tell us what’s next for you? (do you have any new projects, work, books, exhibitions, etc that are coming up?
My last film, a documentary shot in Kolkata, has only just been released and so there is still work to be done in talking about and promoting that. I continue my personal project in Scotland, as well as more shoots with the Islay RNLI. Other new work include Scottish landscapes and portraits for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy and my latest project is about Ballet, which is something in which I have always had an interest and have shot before, but not in depth as I hope to do through the rest of 2017/18.