My stint as a corpse in Wycliffe murder mysteries was the pinnacle of my acting career closely followed by making the final clutch of hopefuls in the Tank Girl movie auditions in 1992… Lori Petty had already been cast and the open auditions turned out to be a publicity stunt… but that’s another story.

I found out that I loved acting at secondary school and that being on stage helped me emerge from childhood shyness. It was an even bigger discovery to find out how it felt to view the world through a camera lens. Fusing these two creative vocations could be used as a force for good.

My work as a photographer has always held the performing arts at its very core. Bands and musicians were my photographic focus for a decade during which time I was also recording and touring with indie band Derrero. Theatre, dance, circus, film, TV, music productions & BBC arts projects collaborations became my stomping grounds and the people who worked within those fields my subject matter.

When an actor walks in to my studio, I have a really brief time to study and figure out their features and body language and decide how best to capture every unique essence of the personality they radiate in an arresting way. It’s an intuitive process, not formulaic.

Your head shot is the very first thing casting directors see and as such is an essential investment in your career. Professional, authentic headshots demonstrate how you value yourself in a competitive industry, to show you are anything but average. So it’s important to get it right without making your session a high-pressure situation. It can be a daunting prospect for any actor to turn up to a photography session and sit in front of a camera as themselves and not in character. Working in a comfortable and relaxed way I will explore range in several studio set ups to achieve an engaged, self-assured and authentic outcome. It works exactly the same for both adults & children. For really little ones I gauge the mood as the session evolves and take care to see if attention and stamina is dwindling. There will be time for breaks, outfit or hair style changes and the kettle is always on.

The classic, standard black and white head shot is fast becoming outmoded in favour of the US influenced cinematic, colour branding style shot which gives great scope for a little more creative flair during your shoot and will result in a set of striking, contemporary images fitting for any Spotlight page.