Polaroid has long been a medium we all love, however for professional photographers it has been a vital tool to check light before shooting to film.

The beautiful bonus of using Polaroids to proof is the honesty they encapsulate. Usually it is the very first picture taken of the session catching the subject slightly off guard.

In the 90's I shot straight to film but from 2001 to 2008 and before going digital I used polaroid to proof my lighting. I heard some photographers threw their polaroids away but I kept mine and stuck them in a box.

With the recent lockdown I've been going through my archives and stumbled across my box of polaroids, long forgotten they brought back some lovely memories.

This gave me the idea to produce The Polaroid Diaries, an insight into some of my past commissions while showing you unseen polaroids in all its raw glory.

QUARANTINE DAY // 1

No Doubt 2001. Smash Box Studio is one of the premium studios in the USA, huge in size with lots of runners to tend to all your needs. In those days I was a one-man band, no lighting crew, no assistant just me and my camera bag. When NME sent me to L.A. they told me this was going to be an outdoor location shoot, no lights needed. So when my driver took me to Smash Box and I walked in alone the studio staff looked puzzled, they asked me where my crew and gear were… I pointed to myself with one hand and my camera bag with the other. I did eventually hire some kit but only a key light and a light for the background, sometimes it’s best to keep it simple. When Gwen Stefani arrived (before the band) to meet her personal make up artist they were so fascinated that it was just me in this huge studio alone, she said ok that’s cool and thought it was refreshing not to have loads of bodies on set. We ended up having a great session, it flowed so naturally. After our shoot she was going next door to shoot with US Vanity Fair. Waiting outside my studio was a torrent of Vanity Fair runners and producers ready to excessively pamper Gwen, we said our farewells and then normal business resumed.

Swedish House Mafia 2004. Shot in Sweden, this was one of my favorite shoots to do. I got on really well with Steve and Sebastian, I told them my idea of doing a setup like they were burying a body in the woods, a play on their band name. They were totally into it and we sprung into action to get it done. They had some spades in the garage and some overalls. Sebastian’s father had a restaurant the woods so we drove there for the location, I wanted the car headlights to be the source of light as I had seen it in Goodfellas movie and I loved the look. Sebastian farther added the cherry on the cake, he provided some old meat from the restaurant that had to be thrown, so we could use it as a prop for body parts. Very macabre.

QUARANTINE DAY // 2

Dieter Meier: When the opportunity arose to shoot the legendary artist Dieter Meier in Ibiza I jumped at the chance. It was circa 05 and at the time Mixmag had just sold to Emap in huge money deal. The previous owners DMC decided to open up a new dance music mag and they wanted a legend for its cover. Dieter was one part of the duo band Yello who did the infamous song "Oh Yeah" featured in the 80's movie Ferris Buller's day off. Dieter with his Dali-esque character was teaming up with dance producers to release an Ibiza anthem, to be fair I don't recall who the producers were but that didn't matter as they knew just as much as we all knew who the star was. The shoot was set 6 hrs before they were due to play at the iconic club Pacha. I had 3 hrs with Dieter and the band, but to be honest I spent a good 2½ hrs just shooting Dieter on his own. The contrast of Dieter in full tux and briefcase at beech resort was fantastic, he was up for doing anything and my favorite shots were of him steeping out of a loft door onto a terrace (on my website), and the other of him on a beach rock looking like he's ready for a city meeting (polaroid) That night we all went to pacha to watch Dieter perform. His legendary status was confirmed.

Wiley: This was in about 03, I was living in Hackney when I got a phone call from the editor of Mixmag saying we got an opportunity to photograph this new garage artist Wiley. Wiley at this time was notoriously difficult to get a hold of so I would have to drop everything and drive go to his record labels office in west London if we were to catch him. I had no brief and I was thinking what the hell can I do with such short notice. At the time I was editing negs on a giant lightbox and I thought this will do so I grabbed it and my camera bag and set off. The spooky feel of upward light from the lightbox worked well and thats the shot the mag went with. It was so surreal as we were doing this shoot in an office with about 20 people sat around their desks. After we got that shot I said lets go outside away from these people and do some street shots. In the end the light box shots were so powerful that we didn't print up any of outdoor ones.

QUARANTINE DAY // 3

Ludacris: 2001, Ludacris was getting ready to release Word of Mouf and the NME sent me to Atlanta, his hometown, to grab a quick session with him. This was a proper press trip, my fellow toggers were John Spinks shooting for ID, and some tall guy from Melody Maker, we did rock paper scissors for order and I got last. First or last are the best 2 spots but not always for the same person, either they are slow in the first and warm up by the last session or they give it all in the first and burn out by the last session. Luckily for me Ludacris was on top form till the end, he was happy for us to take a walk around town and shoot at some of his spots, he even convinced some security guy to let us on top of his really tall building… for an autograph of course.

Steven Berkoff: 2001, The first thing Steven Berkoff said to me when I arrived at his warehouse home in Wapping was “you can leave all that lighting on the door step darling…just bring your camera” so much for directorial control. I always admired Berkoffs work but aged 26 the extent of my knowledge was limited, all I really knew at that age was that he was a baddie in both a Bond movie and Lethal Weapon movie, which blew me away. After research via AOL search engine I learnt how acclaimed his playwright career is. The commission was from the weekend FT Magazine, the brief was get a picture of Berkoff holding a book. That seemed a bit PR so I chose to shoot him with a background of books instead which was visually more interesting. I loved his desk in this shot it was the perfect balance of professional and personal artifacts. This image is special to me as it was my first image acquired by the National Portrait Gallery as part of their permanent collection.

QUARANTINE DAY // 4

S Club 7: 2001, strictly speaking this was shot end of 00 while S Club were filming their TV show in L.A. but the images weren’t published till 2001. S Club was a bit of a UK phenomenon, their first TV show & album was a big hit. Now under the management of Simon Fuller they were on a regimented press campaign for world domination. This particular press trip was carefully planned to maximize the work schedule. It was a well-known fact that under Fuller artists were expected to work to a grueling schedule. The idea of the press trip was to kill two birds with one stone and have two publications with different demographics do features. I was team Attitude with journo Paul Flynn, the other team was some lad mag crew, I don’t recall which but you know the type, boobs & booze 90’s ladism. I was to shoot the boys “working out” on Santa Barbra beach while the girls went off to shoot with the lad culture lot. At the end of the day I was allowed to do some groups shots with everyone. That night we were all staying at the same hotel as S Club and the drinking games started. You know that game “how much would you” naming no names someone from S club said they would perform a lewd act with an animal for just 10k, I guess Mr Fuller didn’t pay them much either then.

2002, Maxwell, an American based artist was in the UK doing press for his Album. Arena+ really wanted him for a section in their mag. Sometimes when this happens the artist, not the mag, gets to choose the photographer, in this case Maxwell liked my work from my NME shoots and told Arena that he wanted me to shoot it. I love it when a commission happens like this because the artist is on board from the start, no jostling for power just a mutual respect throughout the day. We were shooting out of the Sanderson Hotel in London, and we had the run of the place as well as shooting outdoors. Right at the end of the day and when we got back to the hotel room I noticed the bathroom had this lovely green frosted glass around it. The only way to get him close enough to the background was stick him in the bath, we took a quick couple of rolls before wrapping. Out of the whole shoot is was the bath shot that Arena+ loved.

QUARANTINE DAY // 5

Jamie Dornan: 2006, We shot this at a really cool location house in Regents Place previously owed by the Sierra Leone embassy. This building was very popular for shooting as it had lots of huge rooms, some shabby chic some classically decorated. It also had a really grand staircase and a huge loft area with natural light. As a photographer it was a complete paradise because you could shoot lots of looks - all in one location. If you notice the in brown walled polaroids this is where they shot some of the scenes in Kings Speech Movie. The feature was for Cosmopolitans hot list, Jamie was PRing his movie Marie Antoinette but his main buzz at the time was a racy Underwear Campaign he shot for Calvin Klein. Suffice to say a lot of people from the Cosmo office where present for the shoot. We had Jamie for the whole day and he was super nice to everyone.

Mixmag Cover: 2006, I was out in Ibiza with Mixmag for the week shooting various features, sometimes we would plan months of features and Covers all to be shoot on same trip to save on-cost. This cover shoot was planed for one day in the week, the Model Anya was only going to fly out on the day and return back to London that night. We had booked the legendry Pikes hotel as the location, this is where they shot Wham’s Club Tropicana vid. The owner Tony Pike was notorious for his parties and was on set all day serving drinks, they weren’t free by the way. For the cover and feature we wanted a sexy pop 80’s feel to it, obviously in sunshine. The whole week the weather was perfect apart from this day, it was grey and wet. We couldn’t push the shoot as Anya had to be back for another job the next day so with a bit of clever lighting we managed to pull it out the bag.

QUARANTINE DAY // 6

Prodigy: 2005, I’ve always loved the prodigy, I remember seeing them live at a rave in Nottingham in 1991, I was only 17 but the experience of the awesome energy they had on stage stuck with me, especially when they played their hit of the time Charly. Fast-forward to 2005 and I’m shooting them in a conference room / makeshift studio in the Radisson Belfast. Mixmag were voting them the band of the year and they wanted to have them on the cover for their Jan 06 issue. Gavin Green the art director at the time wanted a simple iconic feel, a monochrome palate of either all black or all white, Rosanna Maldonado stylist did a fantastic job fulfilling the brief, the white jacket she had for Keith’s solo shot was just perfect for him. Lighting wise for the cover I shot it with a clean key light and white background, but for the solos I wanted a flooding backlight feel with a soft fill, these were my favorites from the session. Obviously the clean light group shot was the cover but they used the backlight solos for the inside.

Blazin Squad: 2003, These set of polaroids are actually from two different shoots within a space of a month, the big group shot was for Mizz Magazine and the others were for Smash Hits. My agent at the time said I needed to branch out from just shooting Indie and dance bands - hence a period were I shot a fair few pop bands. It always fascinated me with these manufactured bands, every time I met a boy band I could just see their managers profiling them to match the varying girl demographics that would end up fancying them. This didn’t mean they didn’t have talent; they were all super talented with great voices. The location we used for the Mizz shoot is actually an amazing place off Denmark St London. It’s an old Victorian purpose built stage background painting facility, the floor could elevate up and down via pulleys in a giant tall long but narrow building, with huge daylight windows on the roof. The years of paint split on the floor added to its ambience. I don’t think Blazin Squad appreciated as much as I did though.

QUARANTINE DAY // 7

Alter Ego 2004 Frankfurt: Alter Ego had just released their album Transphormer and it was making waves in the techno world, Mixmag wanted an exclusive shoot with them. The duo were good friends with techno legend Sven Vath who lent us his club Cocoon as the location. Music has always been an integral tool on a shoot, put on the right track and the mood of the shoot can change into something special. A lot of the time I would provide the music but this time Sven got on the decks in his empty club and banged out some tracks. Little did I know it would turn into a full on DJ set, performed with the same gusto as if he were playing to thousands in Ibiza to just the 3 of us. My favourite image is the green room one - this was actually one of the VIP pods in the club. Because of the low exposure I thought it would be a good idea for one of them to swing their head side to side giving the impression of a double figure… as if an alter ego was trying to bust through.

Bob Sinclar: 2005, the 00’s saw the rise of the superstar DJ. Bob Sinclar with his hit pop track Love Generation was one of them. His high profile along with his dashing good looks made him the perfect candidate for the Centerfold feature in Cosmopolitan, a feature in conjunction with the charity Everyman to raise awareness for testicular cancer. What better way to photograph him than on a bed of records, the records were kindly lent by the husband of the then Picture Director Joan Tinney who if I recall to this day doesn’t know what they were used for.

Jason Donovan: 2007 This was shot at Holborn studios north London as it was the closest studio to Jason Donovan’s house, he actually said he walked there which I thought was very cool for a celebrity to do. I always found celebrities had to put on a certain personas for their public life. Whenever photographing a celeb I am always trying to get them to break that persona and get to the real them. I was shooting Jason for a charity PR campaign and his celebrity face was fully on and that’s fine for this sort of thing. But at the end of the shoot I asked if we could just do some portraits for my book, no persona just him and my camera - this was one of them.

QUARANTINE DAY // 8

Maroon 5, 2003. In 2002 Maroon 5’s album Songs About Jane was a big hit in the U.S. BMG records were gearing up for the U.K release in 2003 and they needed images of the Band. The original album cover has an illustration on it but BMG wanted to get their image out there for the UK audience. They didn’t want to change the original cover so they got me to shoot images for the UK release version with the extra CD library feature. The actual images were shot around various locations near Mile End and Poplar, It was my choice to do that as it was fairly close to where I was based back then. Mile End in 2003 was not desirable as it is today and it was funny to see this American band with execs pull up in a fleet of people carriers in the heart of the east end. If there ever was a record scratch to stop moment this was it.

Karl Hyde, 2002. This wasn’t the first time I shot Karl Hyde - back in 1996 I shot Underworld for the cover of Mixmag. Their most famous song Born Slippy was featured in one of my all time most influential films, Trainspotting. A banging tune with hi energy, I was a big fan. This time though I was shooting Karl for a feature in Timeout London. I loved shooting with Karl he always had great energy to perform on shoots, this was no different.

Toddla T, 2008. Toddla T was making a name for himself as both a producer and a DJ. At the time he lived with his mum in Sheffield, he was friends with the Artic Monkeys and was dating Annie Mac. Mixmag wanted a feature about his life in Sheffield so they sent me up north to shoot. First we had a cup of tea at his mums and then we went up to his loft, amazing to see there was a full blown recording studio up there, we took some shots but it didn’t feel enough to describe being in Sheffield. I looked out the window and there was a B&Q car park looking grey and bleak and it felt fitting. I used studio lights in the background as a suggestion of glitz and glamour to this rising star in contrast to the grim up north background. This is one of my favourite images.

QUARANTINE DAY // 9

Ja Rule, 2001. The Plan was to go to BBC radio city and meet Ja Rule and take some shots during the Jo Whiley show then afterwards go with Ja Rule to his penthouse and do some portraits, be wrapped by 11am. The interview was being broadcast live at 8am so it was an early start for me, but for Ja Rule it was a late finish as he had been partying all night! The interview lasted about 30 secs after Jo cut it short in anger live on air because Ja Rule with his head on the table could only manage to mumble yes or no to any question Jo had carefully prepared. Not a great start, but it got worse for me. In the car back to St Martins hotel it was obvious not much was going to happen shoot wise in the next hour or so. When we got to the huge penthouse suite it was just me and Ja Rule, he said to me make yourself comfortable, order anything on room service and watch anything you like on the TV while I’ll take a quick nap, he went to the bedroom about 9am. Midday came no sign of Ja Rule, I ordered lunch, 5pm came no sign of Ja Rule, I ordered a burger, 7 pm still no sign of Ja Rule. He finally rolled out of bed about 8pm and said he was only going to do the shoot if he could have a “smoke” before hand, looking at me as if I had to get him the goods, with my camera and lights all set up there was no chance I was going out on the street to score. After a few phone calls to his PR, an express delivery to the suite and a quick smoke I got my shoot… at 9.30pm!

Hives, 2002 & 2003. These set of polaroid’s consisted of 2 shoots, one with the whole band at a bar in center point for the NME and the other with just Pele (Lead Singer) on his own for J17. The later was shot at the V&A museum, an amazing place with statues, marbled walls and grand alters, we had the whole place to ourselves but for only 40 mins before they opened up to the public. We took various shots around the V&A in a hurry to get as much as we can in the allocated time, one was at a grand altar but on this set up I didn’t have time to fire off a polaroid before shooting film. I’ve included the picture anyway as his pose and grandeur of backdrop worked perfectly in unison.

QUARANTINE DAY // 10

Beth Orton-2002. With the launch of Beth’s album Daybreaker Esquire mag was keen to do a review, in those days even just an album review warranted an exclusive shoot commission. Esquire wanted a very English look to the images but needed it to be shot near Liverpool st for logistics. Anyone who knows the city (of London) it’s a mass of concrete and glass, similar to any financial district in the world. I did a quick recce the day before and to my surprise I found a cobbled street with old houses, quite a find in the midst of high rise corporation buildings. On the day it started to rain but that played into our hands too, what’s more quintessentially English than standing on a cobbled road in the rain with a brolly

So Solid Crew-2001. I had already shot with So Solid so many times before they would joke I was an honorary member. One of them was a cover shoot for the NME in Ayia Napa, I really got to know Mega Man. When Indipendiente signed So Solid to release their album Mega Man insisted that I do all the pics. A lot of money was thrown at this just because of the sheer number of members, I think 30 at last count. The stylist had a huge task, she got racks of designer clothes on loan. I shot a ton of polariods and pinned them up on polybaords so everyone could see what we were doing. At the end of the shoot all the polariods had disappeared apart from two, one of them signed by Mega Man as a thank you, they took the rest. So I only have these 2 polariods to show you, if you think that’s a shame have a thought for the stylist, all the borrowed clothes were missing too!

Zero 7-2004. If you know Zero 7’s music you know how great their chilled sound is, I absolutely loved Simple Things so when I was asked to photograph them for the release of their 2nd album When it Falls (also brilliant) I jumped at the chance. I loved this shoot because like their music it was so chilled, we flew to the south of Spain and drove 2 hours up into the hills where Henry and Sam had house, you couldn’t see another place for miles. We stayed for 2 days eating home cooked food (made by them) and occasionally trekking out on the hills to take some pictures, pure bliss like their music.

QUARANTINE DAY // 11

Stephen Dorff 2006. Stephen was flying from LA to London the night before. We booked Blakes hotel in west London for his stay & shoot location. Each room in Blakes is bespoke with a different mood, perfect for multiple setups. We had 3 rooms, one for Stephen to stay in and 2 for us to shoot in. As we were setting up we called Stephen to our room for grooming. Dorff was in great shape and we were planning to do some bare torso shots. As he was raising his t shirt over his head I noticed huge scratch marks on his back, I didn’t say anything at first but when he saw them in the mirror he said, will this be a problem? I said no and got make up to cover them. After wrapping we went to the bar for drinks, I asked him about those scratch marks and it turned out he got cozy with someone on his flight and she had spent the night. He later disclosed her name and it was someone from a huge girl band of the time, my lips are sealed!

Ibiza DJs 2006. I started my career at Uni in 95, I was a club photographer for Mixmag, I was paid to go to all the best clubs around the world with VIP treatment, the ultimate student hedonistic lifestyle. When I started moving towards portraits my club photography became a bit of a chore, as you get older the idea of clubbing to the wee hours of the morning became less desirable. By 2006 I was pretty much over the whole club scene. When Mixmag asked me to do a massive feature of club dj’s in Ibiza I was a little hesitant, but seeing the brief they just wanted portraits, the only catch was I would have to shoot them before or after their sets, which in Ibiza is a 24hr gig. Having been to Ibiza 4-5 times every year I made the decision on this occasion not to drink or get involved, the outcome was amazing! I was fresh for every shoot and for the hours my journo colleges spent sleeping I was exploring the island. It was the first time I truly saw the island & locals, it was really beautiful!

Embrace 01-04 I first shot embrace on their secret manor tour in 01, over the next few years I shot all their press, these were good times as we had a record company budget to hire great locations, one being a MOD disused tank testing facility (top 2)

QUARANTINE DAY // 12

Trail of Dead 2002. Like their name suggests they have a reputation, a normal gig would consist of smashing guitars and setting drum kits on fire. Based in Austin Texas the NME wanted to do an American boozy road trip piece. TOD would regularly go to Mexico to see the “doctor” for a “prescription” and our idea was to capture the journey. We arrived in Austin armed with van packed with booze but 3 hrs into the road trip non of it was drunk. We did the odd stop to do portraits but not the material we were after. Maybe things would change in Mexico. We entered the border town of Laredo, a sort of no man land for people in transit. In Laredo there’s a place called boys town, a sq mile walled town with only one road in or out, a place with clientele not that dissimilar to the Titty Twister (Dusk till Dawn), a place perfect to kick start our feature. We started with tequila shots and that eased us into the vibe, I got chatty with some lady boys and I thought it a great idea to have the band photographed with them, I lined them up and we started to shoot, perfect! Until the local Police grabbed me and arrested me for non permit and put me cell awaiting a court date. Completely panicked to the realization I was in a cell wearing Prada with local criminals, I thought my life was over. After an hour of shout whispering at a broken down PR to do something the band came to the rescue. They had been laughing the whole time, taking pictures. It turned out the police just needed $200 off the book “fine”. They got their money and I was set free, beers never tasted so great! When the feature came out I was surprised to see my picture in the mag, apparently the band had sent their shots to the editor.

Danny Dyer 2006. I remember the date well, it was the same day Artic Monkeys album Whatever People Say came out. While setting up I put my freshly delivered cd on loud in the studio, Danny Dyer walked in and started bopping about. He said “I f*cking love this music… it’s a shame they are a bunch of northerners though!” Welcome to Danny Dyer, he says what he means and means what he says. I’ve shot Danny on a few times since and one thing I love about him he’s always the same.

QUARANTINE DAY // 13

The Coral 2002 & 04. I first met The Coral at their Liverpool Recording studio, their song Dreaming Of You was doing really well in the charts and the NME wanted to do a feature. They were known for their psychedelic folk sound and experimental substances. Their studio was in a huge building in the center of town, they were on 3rd floor and there was no elevator, I got really breathless lugging my equipment up those stairs. Still gasping for air I knocked on the door and as it opened a cloud of smoke engulfed me. My already pounding lungs became full of smoke, I soon found myself in a hot box situation and there was no escaping it. A lesson learnt, shooting stoned is one of the hardest things to do. The 2nd time I shot The Coral was in their hometown of Hoylake, on the streets and playground where they grew up… all outdoors thank goodness!

Ian Wright 2005. Ian wright has always been a footballing hero of mine, so when Cosmopolitan asked me to photograph him for their centerfold feature I was super excited. Ian wright has a great sense of humor and we were going to have a bit of fun with this one. The monthly centerfold feature was in conjunction with Everyman, a testicular cancer awareness charity. Ian was happy to bear all for a good cause. We shot this on the staircase of the landmark hotel in Marylebone, it wasn’t closed off or anything so punters were getting a good eye full during the shoot. That didn’t faze Ian Wright, what a true pro!

2006. Soulwax aka 2manyDJs were a mixture of electronic and experimental sounds, I actually really like their music. Mixmag sent me to Belgium to photograph them at their studio, a 3-story warehouse in the center of Ghent. I wanted to try something different for this shoot so I gave them a polaroid camera and told them to take pictures of each other around their studio. I wanted to see how they viewed each other. Then I got them to stick the Polaroid of them on their heads and I would take a portrait of them. I really liked the outcome, it was like a double portrait, one factual done by me and one personal done by their band members.