Standing on an open interior walkway of a pristine, modern building on the south side of the river, my photographic subject looks around and tells me that none of the trail of photographers who have visited in the past weeks have used this location.
I’ve already photographed him on the outside balcony and sitting on his pillar box red sofa (which have, apparently, been the usual choices). He seems to enjoy the novelty of what is technically an extension of the corridor, but to me seemed like a giant green spaceship of an interior. Although, with only very narrow walking access on one side, there was a limit to how much of my subject I could get into the frame – but perfect for a quick portrait shot.
Michael Woodford, former CEO of Olympus who turned whistleblower after uncovering accounting irregularities, was doing a string of interviews in the run up to the publication of his book, ‘Exposure – Inside the Olympus Scandal’ back in November, when I photographed him for a business magazine.
Interview shoots for magazines often take place at a subject’s workplace or home (the latter being true this time) – understandably, as both the interview itself and the portrait shoot are being fitted into an often busy daily schedule.
I like home shoots as sometimes the environment can feed the photo with something about the person’s character. I photographed Ken Livingstone in his kitchen a few years back – he had a wonderfully relaxed and open manner during the interview that the location fitted perfectly.
On another occasion, I photographed Adam Ant draped across the sofa in his living room – in this case, the furniture’s ornate pattern beautifully segued into the singer’s colourful pirate prince look.
This time it was the clean lines and refreshing colours of this simple but effective background that seemed to me to point to the openness, directness and simplicity of a story about someone deciding to tell the truth in a complicated situation.
So, the moral is, the bit between the room and the lift can be an unexpectedly useful area. Especially if there’s not an actual green spaceship on hand…which, sadly and inexplicably, is so often the case.
