Bristol, the birth place of Banksy, with it’s colourful street art and graffiti. Also home to Brunel’s world famous Clifton Suspension Bridge and the SS Great Britain, the world’s first iron hulled ocean-going steam ship. Bristol has 2 world renowned Universities, and is rich in it’s cultural heritage, and the iconic Concorde was built here. But look a little further down the back streets, and you will see the usual run down inner city areas with derelict buildings, run down housings and urban neglect. I am a Bristolian born and bred photographer, born in Easton, and I like to use those kind of local locations for my Urban Headshots around my home city of Bristol, many of which I know from having a good local knowledge. I like to use off camera flash to create some moody lighting, and back street locations with colourful graffiti. I am always on the lookout for interesting characters to use for these portraits, and one day hope to produce a book of my work.

My interest in Urban Headshots first started back in 2001 when Chris Brown asked me to take some photos for his first book called Bovver. For a location we used under the M32 motorway, by the site of the old Bristol Rovers stadium at Eastville, and the Monte Carlo café at Eastville. Sadly the photos were never used, the publishers used their own photo on the cover. It was not until a few years ago my interest in Urban Headshots was re-kindled by some images I saw from a American photographer on the gangs in New York and still images from the 70’s movie Warriors. Here are a few of my first Urban Headshots of Chris.

Here are a selection of my Urban Headshots, with a few technical details. Hope you enjoy them!

BRISTOL URBAN PORTRAITS | BRISTOL HEADSHOTS

URBAN PORTRAITS | BRISTOL URBAN PROJECTS

Back in 2012, I did a “Trash the Dress” session in Bristol. These photo shoots were very popular at the time, where the bride would do some creative photos some time after their wedding, which would some times involve the bride running through mud, splashing in the sea, and the dress being trashed. So my idea was to do an Urban Headshots session around various locations in Bristol, including St.Werburghs, Clifton and the Harbour. Here are a few images from that session.

In July 2015, I did an Urban Headshots shoot with Bones, who I have known for some years. We used a location in Brislington, which I had found some time before. These were taken using a Elinchrom Quadra 400 pack, and a Canon speed light for the separation and lighting the background. Bones is a big Aston Villa fan, with the club’s badge tattooed proudly on his head and neck.

In September 2015 Julie asked me to take some photos of her for her profile and CV. Here are a few from that session, taken near the Bristol Harbour Railway. I like to use black & white for effect, done when I edit the images in Adobe Lightroom. Lighting was mostly natural light, with a small amount of fill in flash.

In October 2015 I ventured south of the river to photograph Tom, an old mate of mine. The main location was the Bedminster Park Skatepark. I find late morning or early afternoon the quietest time to do these Urban Headshots, before too many people are about, which can put off the subjects.

In 2016 on a cold March morning, I used under the M32 motorway in Eastville as a location to photograph another friend Paul, who I know from Soul Train and my business networking days. Paul is local DJ and was one of the original founders of Soul Train in Bristol.

My “studio” set up on location under the M32

In May 2016, I did an Urban Headshots session with Dave. Dave at the time was the Chaplain at Bristol Rovers FC , and is now a Vicar in the Royal Navy. Dave wrote a book, “Heart of a Hooligan”, about his former life as a football hooligan, before dedicating his life to Christ. He was a interesting subject to photograph, and still had his stone island gear. Some of the following images were taken in Lockleaze, and others in St.Werburghs.

I used a few new locations for an Urban Headshots session in June 2017 for Karolina, one location not far from the Dings, the other in Hanham. A large gust of wind blew over one of my lights, so I now use sand bags to weigh them down. Lucky no damage was caused. I used Canon speed lights, the main light in a Rotalux 100cm softbox, double diffused, with a speed light adaptor.

I did an Urban Headshots session with Hank, in March 2018, and used a location I had found near Temple Meads. It was a cold and breezy day, and even with sand bags one of my lights was blown over, again lucky that there was no damage caused.

18 years after my first Urban Headshots session for Chris, we did another session in May 2019, this time in Ashley Down and St.Werburghs. Since our last Urban Headshots shoot all those years ago, Chris has gone on to write a number of successful books, including Bovver, Booted and Suited, and Guilty Tiger.

Also in May 2019, I did an Urban Headshots session with Lloyd. I’ve only got to know Lloyd well in the last few years, and I admire his inspirational work with the homeless in Bristol and his mentoring. I can remember Lloyd from his days as a night club doorman, and his support of the red side of Bristol football. He is a black belt in karate, which nearly came in handy in one of the inner city locations we used for the photos, one which I would probably not venture in to alone with a camera. We used a number of locations for the Urban Headshots, including Stokes Croft, Montpelier, and some run down lanes off the Centre

Lloyd asked me if he could have a few images taken near the Georgian House, Great George Street, in the affluent area of Clifton. This house is infamous in that hundreds of years ago it was home to John Pinney, a wealthy sugar and slave plantation owner. His personal slave Pero Jones lived at the house and died in Bristol. John Pinney’s wealth was made from selling many other slaves who endured inhumanities as live stock. Bristol has a number of links to the slave trade, and Lloyd wanted to highlight what he thought of this, and man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.

Early on a June Sunday morning in 2019, I was asked to do a family portrait, as a surprise for their Dad Paul on Father’s Day. Just before leaving they asked if I could take it as an Urban Headshot session, rather than the usual family portraits. I used a few locations for this in Ashton. With the family’s kind permission, here are a few of the images I took.

Early in November 2019, I did an Urban Headshot session with Alana, not far from Temple Meads in Bristol. Alana replied to an appeal I made in a Facebook group for volunteers, and after a quick coffee where we discussed some ideas, the photo session took place. Here are a few of those images:

August 2020, the year every one will never forget for all the wrong reasons, I did an Urban Headshot session with Susie, in inner city Bristol. Susie replied to my appeal in a Facebook group for volunteers, and after a coffee meet up, and a short tour of a few locations and some Banksy artwork, the photo session took place with her friend Amy helping with the lighting. Here are a few of those images:-

August 2020, I did an Urban Headshot session with Pat, an old friend of mine, in inner city Bristol. This was a location that I had wanted to use for a long time, and is typical of the locations I like to use for these images. Here are a few of those images:-

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my Urban Headshots, with just a small bit of technical and background information. Please contact me if you would be interested in an Urban Headshot session, and I can send you my current prices. I do these when my other photography work is quiet, so I can offer those interested a competitive discount, in return for me using some images on my social media and website Blog. It keeps me interested in portrait photography, and keeps my creative interest fresh in the twilight of my career as a photographer. I take most of these images during the week when the streets are quieter.

Cheers.