The Spotlight Project - Una Stubbs

A series of portraits where I reunite actors with their first ever headshot.

Go on, you know you're thinking it: Aunt Sally. No? Till Death Us Do Part? Summer Holiday perhaps? Ah, you may be showing your age there. It's rather unfair of me to mention these early roles I suppose given the rennaisance her career has enjoyed recently in the theatre but I was rather excited in a slightly childish way to meet Una Stubbs. She has the kind of career which means that entire decades can be recalled with one of her iconic portrayals.

She was in rehearsals at The National Theatre at the time I met her and it is worth mentioning straight away that she looks amazing for a woman who has recently turned 70. Not only stylish but incredibly funny we had a great time with the shoot, which hopefully you can see below. The picture itself is one of the publicity stills from Summer Holiday and it seems that Una has lost none of her capacity to enjoy life from her days as a young ingenue.






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The Spotlight Project - Lynda Bellingham

A series of portraits where I reunite actors with their first ever headshot.

There was something unique about my afternoon with Lynda Bellingham. Perhaps it was the fact that she was in the process of writing her autobiography (whose publication is mired at the moment in legal action) but more than anyone else I photographed, seeing this photo again brought back a flood of very vivid memories and emotions. She was able to recall so much about the time the picture was taken and then a few things that happened in later life, all of it inspired by seeing this early image of herself, part of what I was hoping this project could achieve.

(I'd love to say more but given the spectre of legal action it's probably best if I don't. Suffice to say real life has not always provided the kind of domestic bliss you might see in, say, an Oxo commercial)







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The Spotlight Project - Maureen Lipman

A series of portraits where I reunite actors with their first ever headshot.

Little did I know as I pulled up to Maureen Lipman's house that this shoot would end up being so traumatic. Not due to any thing she did; as with all the actors I photographed she was warm, welcoming and makes a fine cup of tea. No, it was the hardware that was to cause the stress. As I set up my stuff in her garden (at the bottom of which, as you can see below, she has a London postbox and old red telephone booth- perhaps a kickback from those BT ads) I had no idea that my camera was suffering a fault. I know everyone has gone digital these days but I'm a bit old fashioned in my use of film, chemicals and paper. What this means of course is that there's no way of checking as you go along that everything is working perfectly. To cut a long story short my lens only actually opened on about ten of the pictures I took, so I was greatly relieved that I got anything usable for the project.

Maureen pointed out that she thought she had one portrait earlier than this which I have since found so perhaps if we get the chance we could try again with my now fully functioning camera. Which also provides the perfect excuse for another cup of tea.
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The Spotlight Project - Jonathan Pryce

A series of portraits where I reunite actors with their first ever headshot.

Jonathan Pryce greeted me at his front door in his dressing gown. 'I'm running a little late. Would you like a coffee?' he asked as he lead me through his gorgeous house. I stammered something back and said I'd set my stuff up in the garden whilst he got dressed. Wow, even the garden was extraordinary. I found myself not star-struck as such but with a voice that's as recognisable as the face you can find yourself struck a little dumb by the uncanniness of the impression he does of his own voice. Does that make sense?

Anyway, when he returned he told me how he had recently had a portrait taken for a project which followed the basic premise of 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' (Andy Gotts work can be found here) which sounded like a brilliant idea, much better than mine. Once set up, I handed him his envelope and we began. As you can see below; the film actor's skill is often in making minute facial gestures speak volumes on the big screen. So no big reactions then. What I was amazed by was how perfectly he was able to copy his own expression from the picture for the front-on portrait I took.

He then told me that he still had the entire box of reproductions of this first headshot in the loft. He had had them done whilst at RADA but when he was snapped up by an agent one of the first things he was asked to do was to get new headshots and so the orignals remained unused. Until I came along. Click on any image to see a larger version.







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The Spotlight Project - Sophie Thompson

A series of portraits where I reunite actors with their first ever headshot.

Sophie Thompson is hilarious. From the moment she opened the front door until she closed it behind me as I left she didn't stop talking, laughing and making me feel very welcome. Until recently Sophie was the kind of actress you might have seen stealing a scene or two in an English comedy or you might simply know of her as 'Emma Thompson's sister' but a cracking storyline in EastEnders (the only way to get more work nowadays or a berth on Celebrity Morris Dancing On Ice) has changed all that, casting her as a nasty piece of work for a change. What she has in spades is a wicked self-deprecating humour which was perfect for my purposes and meant that we had a lot of fun with the shoot.

It's always a slightly nerve wracking experience doing something like this especially given the one-shot nature of this particular project. If I don't get the shot, we can't exactly go back and act all surprised again. That might sound like a slightly absurd statement about photographing actors but the whole point was to capture them not acting, but reacting. Anyway, when your subject is relaxed it makes the whole experience much more pleasant. For those of you wondering; yes, that is a nose-stud back in the past (and still today in fact). Click on any image to see a larger version.







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The Spotlight Project - Charlotte Rampling

The Spotlight is the actor's casting directory. Since 1927 thesps have had their photo taken and submitted it to the now mammoth books used to cast film, television and theatre productions. It is an annual ritual which means the wallet being lightened by many pounds and occasionally the rigmarole of having a new headshot taken because every now and then you have to admit that you're no longer 21 with just the one chin.

I remember vividly having my first shot taken as a drama student. I hated it. I was stiff, uncomfortable and way too serious. Oh and my hair was from another era. I may well post it up here at a later date but I want to explain where all this is going first. Given that experience I hit upon the idea of reuniting various famous actors with their first ever Spotlight headshot and capturing their reaction on seeing this earlier incarnation of themselves again after all these years. How would they react? Would they remember the photo? And how would they compare themselves now?

When I was lucky enough to be in a play with Charlotte Rampling I proposed the idea to her and asked if she would become my first subject. She said yes. At which point I started to worry. This is one of the world's most photographed women, never mind how she might react how about me? The results are below and I must say that given the frantic nature of the shoot in between matinee and evening shows I'm pretty pleased with the results. Charlotte was fantastic, absolutely remembered the photo and was very calm and collected during the whole session, as you might expect. Some of my other subjects weren't quite so calm as you will see. I'll post up the other 5 in the weeks to come and welcome any comments you might have about them. Click on any image to see a larger version.






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