Gotta love this quirky little shot of iconic actor #AlPacino doing a little improv of #SalvadorDali .
Quite a huge part of photography is luck (despite what us photographers will have you believe!). We cannot plan exactly what will happen at a photo shoot, nor predict the mood or high jinx of the subjects being shot.
When I was heading to Pacino’s house in Beverly Hills did I expect Al to be all jovial and want to be silly? Of course not!! I was expecting the ‘Godfather ‘ wanting to make me an offer I couldn’t refuse rather than a #KennethWilliams impression, which #MichaelSheen would have been proud of!
No matter whatever you plan for a portrait photo shoot, something better usually happens on the photographic journey.
#TheGodfather#SayHelloToMyLittleFriend#Scarface#DogDayAfternoon#Heat#Salome#ScentOfAWoman#OceansThirteen#Theirishman#celebrityphotographer#photography#AndyGotts#oneshotgotts
Gathering no moss! Ronnie Wood.
Knocking around the old photography game for the past 34 years, well 34 years next month to be precise, I have managed to capture THE most iconic actors. Whereas my dabbling in music there are sooooo many musicians who have scaled the heady heights I feel I have barely scratched the surface.
But recently I was so fortunate to have had a music legend in front of my lens. The amazing #RonnieWood .
Ronnie arrived with his lovely family who busied themselves whilst Ronnie and I had a chat. He had just been to Barcelona to paint horses and his art is incredible, then post-shoot he was heading to a meeting about acting in a movie. They do say creative people are creative in many ways!!
As usual my shoot was quick and practically painless. My usual array of quirkiness. But this natural shot I really love. You can see the landscape of time on his face and when I look at it I am reminded of the quote of Ringo Starr “Andy Gotts is the Ansel Adams of faces!”. When I look and the valleys and peaks of Ronnie’s face I totally see what he means.
A Beatles and Rolling Stones mention in one post! Now that’s how it’s done.
#celebrityphotographer#photography#blackandwhitephotography#OneShotGotts#AndyGotts@instagram@creators#London#RonnieWood#TheRollingStones@sallywood1@ronniewood@flemingsmayfair#Mayfair@elinchrom_uk
The ‘man in kilt’ glorious #SamHeughan is a delight. Even though we are both UK based and have been in the same locality, our shoot actually took place in West Hollywood recently. We spent over an hour chatting before I captured his lovely chops with my camera.
When you have someone in front of your lens who has a vast audience of fans who are used to seeing portraits on magazine covers which have been ‘skin softened’, filtered, edited, retouched…my portraits of the raw face sometimes isn’t their cup of tea. I’m from the school of Henri Cartier-Bresson and capturing the ‘decisive moment’, the actual 125th of a second of time you capture when you press the camera shutter. That beautiful unique moment in time that will never ever happen again. Not from the school of ‘lets throw it in Photoshop and make it look perfect!’
As Ringo Starr said “Andy Gotts is the Ansel Adams of faces.” A title that I am very proud of.
@samheughan#celebrityphotographer#photography#blackandwhitephotography#OneShotGotts#AndyGotts#oOutlander@instagram@creators#hollywood
Serendipity is a very underrated word.
I was merrily skipping around the opening night of Jamie Oliver’s (@jamieoliver ) new restaurant on Catherine Street when I noticed the lovely Alfie Boe (@mralfieboe ) mingling with the great and good. I popped over and said hello and in a twist of fate the day before he had seen my NEMESIS exhibition on BBC News…and he mentioned he would love to have a portrait taken. So this week we made it happen.
There are people you meet you know will be lifelong chums, and Alfie is absolutely one of them. He is without doubt one of this generations most talented singers…and when Alfie starts his next Les Miserables stint I will be there front and centre joining in the One Day More collective song.
For a gent that has gone through so much he is a figurehead and a guiding light for people who are going through difficult times, to see you can get through.
There is a tiny part of me that would love to be on a stage and do a bit of musical theatre…maybe one day when i have no more people to photograph!!
Thanks Alfie my friend.
#AlfieBoe#LesMiserables#WentEnd#Theatre#Flemings@flemingsmayfair
