Photographer Siobhan Bradshaw with her portrait of Alton Ellis (left).

The framed print was unscrewed from the wall where it hung, while the Cafe was open, by a sneak thief or thieves, who ignored other works hanging nearby. Management at the Jazz Cafe are said to be “very upset”.

“It was fitting for his picture to be hanging in the venue where Alton Ellis last performed.”

The value of prints by art photographer, Siobhan Bradshaw, who’s also known for her jazz shots, has risen considerably since the Alton Ellis photo was taken in 2008, pushed up by a number of successful exhibitions in London. Her performance photograph of Ellis was especially significant, as he died so shortly afterward, without ever performing again.

It was fitting for it to be hanging in the venue where he last performed, and disrespectful for it to have been stolen from there. Jazz Cafe management are understood to be considering acquiring a replacement print.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auQeEuxGu6Q
Siobhan Bradshaw is an emerging British art photographer, perhaps better know at present for her stage portraits of leading international artists appearing at London’s Jazz Cafe music venue. She exhibited successfully at We Are Cuts, in London’s Soho, at the beginning of 2010. Her work attracted the attention of veteran British jazz and music photographer, David Redfern, head of BAPLA (the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies). Simon Towler interviewed her for NewPhotoDigest in Regent’s Park, London.

>> NPD: I’m talking to Siobhan Bradshaw

You are the photographer at the Jazz Cafe.

So, this year, what have you been doing?
You had a show in London?

>> SB: Yeah, at Cuts, in Soho.
And that went really well.

>> NPD: And that was portraits from the Jazz Cafe?

>> SB: Yes.

>> NPD: And did you sell well?

>> SB: Yes.
I exhibited Maceo Parker, Mica Paris, Mos Def,
I did some small black-and-whites downstairs.
Noel McKoy, Reuben Wilson, Meshell.
Cuts is in a new place now,
it used to be on Frith Street.
I’m sure people are more familiar with it than they realize,
Cos it was quite an integral part of Soho,
and lots of what was happening in the kind of early 90s
and throughout the 90s.
I’m sure lots of cool people got their hair cut there.
And it was always a really lively atmosphere to go and visit
like, to hang out there, you’d always hear really interesting conversations, and em…
>> NPD: And it’s a pretty cool place, there’re quite a few well-known…
>> SB: It’s a cool place, and the people are really [pause] nice.
>> NPD: It’s quite a big part of the London scene really.
>> SB: Yeah.
>> NPD: And it’s a hairdressers!
>> SB: And it’s doing really well selling art…
>> NPD: Yeah!
>> SB: …starting with mine! Well, not actually, there was someone before me.
But, yeah, it’s doing really well, the last few shows they’ve done.
>> NPD: Who did you get turning up at the Private View,
anyone we’d know?
>> SB: Oh, yeah, David Redfern…
>> NPD: Yeh.
>> SB: [pause] …and, em, all my friends.

>> NPD: So what else have you been doing?

>> SB: I’ve been working on a large piece.
I want to do, like, a large frieze of my work,
keeping the same format as the work that’s up in the Jazz Cafe
mounting it onto die bond [pause]
with it being about fifteen feet long.

I’m putting some stuff using this idea up,
I’m going to be doing it in a window, somewhere in the West End,
you will hear shortly.
And I’m going to be doing a commission as well.

>> NPD: And you’ve got something going to Japan too?
>> SB: Yeah.
>> NPD: Tell us about that.
>> SB: It’s for DJ Ichikawa, he has a band, and, em… [pause]
He’s been a DJ for about twenty years, in House music
and he has a bar, I think it’s in Kyoto, and it’s very nice
I’ve seen photographs of it,
and he’s going to put my work up in there as an exhibition.
>> NPD: And you were doing DJ slideshows as well, weren’t you?
>> SB: Yeah, I was working, I did something once a month at Sequence
but that stopped after six months.
>> NPD: OK, so you’re not doing any more of that?
>> SB: No.
>> NPD: And you stopped shooting film recently?
>> SB: No. I’m still shooting film.
>> NPD: But you went digital?
>> SB: Yeah, I went digital, but I’m still shooting film, black and white.
>> NPD: So what digital camera did you go for?
>> SB: D700.
>> NPD: And your film camera was your?…
>> SB: F3.
>> NPD: F3. Which you’re very fond of.
OK. And how did you find the transition?
>> SB: Well, for a long time I was just pointing and shooting really, and that was good
but then there comes a point where you can’t do any more
and understanding all the camera can do is quite a lot to take on
when I’m not really a “manual” type of person –
I look at a manual and I almost drop it –
but if you show me how to do something I get it straight away.
So now I’m reading the manual, and it’s an amazing camera, it can do amazing things.
For music photography you cannot really be relying on film any more,
I mean, it just doesn’t make any kind of sense,
and once you’ve switched over to digital, you’re pretty much going to stay with digital.
But like I said, I’m still shooting black and white film as well. And it’s nice,
you’ve got the best of both worlds.
>> NPD: Apart from earning a living, your art is your main thing, isn’t it?
>> SB: Yeah.
>> NPD: What sort of stuff do you shoot for art photos?
>> SB: Well, I’ve been shooting “the city” for easily over a decade now
cos I used to live in Soho, that’s where my work really started
when I started using cameras and I stopped painting and drawing.
And while I’m in the city, I think I will always photograph the city.
I find it really rich in its symbolism.
I’m not so interested in the people, photographing the people,
but the spaces that they inhabit, and like the empty spaces at night,
that still fascinates me. But it’s changed a lot, it’s much more dangerous now,
you’re not so safe walking around at five in the morning just shooting in really desolate places,
it’s much more dangerous.
>> NPD: Your two main stomping grounds of the past decades have been London’s Soho and Camden Town?
>> SB: Well any city, any city I would visit I would photograph,
so I have L.A., New York [pause] anywhere I went. The city in general fascinated me.
>> NPD: And you shot Quentin Crisp in New York?
>> SB: Yeah. He was actually my first portrait.
>> NPD: So how did the Quentin Crisp session come about?
>> SB: I phoned him up! His name was in the directory!
I always kind of admired his live-as-you-wish lifestyle, you know?

He chose how he wanted to be and he was it, and I liked that, I kind of respect that.
>> NPD: So where did you do the session?
>> SB: In his cafe that he used. I can’t remember the name of it,
but he was a regular fixture in this cafe.
>> NPD: That’s one of your favourite portraits, isn’t it?
>> SB: Well, the interesting thing about doing portraits is…
He was a professional portrait. I mean, the man knew what he was giving.
He was composing, he was giving you… he knew exactly what he was doing.
That was amazing in itself, just to watch him do his thing.
>> NPD: You’ve never tried to sell that one, that’s right isn’t it?
>> SB: No. But I’ve got lots of people I think in my portfolio that probably…
[pause]
maybe not quite the same as Quentin Crisp, but in their own way, equally as magnificent.
>> NPD: Who else have you got good stories from your shoots with?
>> SB: I think that probably most of the portraits that I’ve taken,
most of the musicians that I’ve photographed are really interesting people, and…
I couldn’t tell you on the spot, but you know, the snippets of conversation that you have
often stay with you for a long time, [pause]
and especially as you’re strangers. I mean obviously you get to know them as time goes on
but initially you’re strangers.
>> NPD: You got a great shot of Ginger Baker once.
>> SB: That was my most scary shot.
Usually I have a nice thing going on, but that one was pretty scary.
>> NPD: Tell us about that.
>> SB: Well I was allowed one shot. The door opened. There he was.
And he wasn’t very happy that I was there to do the shot.
>> NPD: Did you get your one shot?
>> SB: I took four. [laughs]
>> NPD: And how many of them were good?
>> SB: All of them! [laughs]
>> NPD: What light?

>> SB: Well, it was quite awkward lighting where I took it, but it was fine,
it was on the D700. –But my film came out nice too.

>> NPD: And so what’s the future?
>> SB: The world? [laughs] I really want to go to Berlin, Paris, and America and New York.
>> NPD: And you’re not represented, are you?
>> SB: No.
>> NPD: And you don’t have a gallerist?
>> SB: No.
>> NPD: And you’re looking for one?
>> SB: Yes.
>> NPD: How hard are you looking?
>> SB: At the moment I’m not looking so hard. But I will be.
>> NPD: If there are any gallerists watching, what do you want them to know about Siobhan Bradshaw?
>> SB: I want to put together the different subjects that I’ve been doing,
I think they work quite cinematically. I’m really interested in not only exhibiting them as photographs
but also making them into films, and putting music with them, and yeah, moving over a little bit into sort of cinema.
>> NPD: And you went back to St. Martins recently for more education?
>> SB: Yeah, to learn more about Photography, because I studied Fine Art before.
>> NPD: Where did you do Fine Art?
>> SB: At St. Martins.
>> NPD: And you’re moving on from that, you’re learning commercial studio practice soon?
>> SB: I wouldn’t say “commercial”. But yeah, I’m interested in doing portraits.
The person that always said “I would never do people!” is now doing people.
>> NPD: So you’re going to do musician portraits?
>> SB: Yeah. I think that I have to have some kind of rapport with the people that I’m photographing,
So it makes sense that I would do photographs of musicians, artists, dancers,
Cos I find them interesting.
>> NPD: So Siobhan Bradshaw, resident photographer at London’s famous Jazz Cafe,
long-time face in London’s Camden Town and Soho, thank you very much.
>> SB: Thank you.
>> NPD: Was it a nice day here in Regent’s Park?
>> SB: It’s beautiful.
>> NPD: That’s lovely. Thank you very much, Siobhan.

Doug McBride interviews music photographer Robert Knight for behindthehype.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpi1YvP3TZ4

Robert Knight was fortunate enough to build relationships with rock gods like Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Led Zeppelin. In the interview for the new documentary about his life, Rock Prophecies, he discuss some of his moments with these larger-than-life musicians.

A short with professional photographer Andy Earl testing out the new Canon 5D MkII on a shoot in London. Director; Dave Haigh Camera; Hans Ravensberger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLiaF1bUPe4

Annie Liebovitz profile: YouTube video in six parts

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six