Meet the Crew: In conversation with fashion photographer Paul Whitfield

“It’s an image that doesn’t exist but you make it up from the other two images”

Paul Whitfield

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Paul on many occasions. It’s been interesting to see how he allowed his instincts and ‘eye’ to guide his creativity, rather than being a style copyist. His visceral approach to image making found it’s natural home in fashion. So let’s find out more.

IB: So what got you into photography in the first place, Paul? What was the thing?

PW: I started off doing a degree in Fine Art. During that first year I tried all the disciplines and photography just spoke to me. I knew from that point it was like the medium I wanted to express myself through.

Creating an image felt like you could encompass so many of an artist’s mediums. And it feels permanent. You can abstract lots of different things from it but you’ve captured a moment, even in the digital world, and that’s permanent.

So you committed pretty quickly?

Yeah. It's like photography became the foundation to build my art on. That's the way I see it. And every image is a building block.

Who were the photographers that really inspired you?

It was Jürgen Teller at the time. He was quite groundbreaking really. There’s a simplicity and honesty to his work, very immediate. He sees things in quite a brutal way, by that I mean his focus. He can build amazing work from quite banal everyday scenes. But he’s shot for so many major brands. I also like William Eggleston's work. He see’s colour in a very exciting way. Incidental details but always great colour.

One of the things I’ve always found really interesting about your work is the level of immediacy and risk-taking. Is that something you consciously do, or do you think about that before?

I start with a loose idea, but it’s much more of an emotional response to the brief, to the model, to the locations. I’ve got a pretty good idea of how it’s gonna go but it’s a direct response to the person, setting, light ... everything feeds into it. What gets forgotten is that a shoot is a brand new creative relationship. I'm as much a part of the photograph as everything else because of the interaction. So it can be quite visceral, a gut feeling in the moment.

Photography is a highly technical as well as a creative exercise. I know many others who shoot in a technical way. I don't get the impression that’s how you approach it.

Yeah, that’s right. I know with a client brief it's got to have a certain look, meet certain specifications. But if the mood is right and the flash doesn't go off, or some other incident happens, it might add another veneer to the final image. So yeah. I'm not fretting about the technical stuff at all.

You can shoot a good picture on anything. I’ve just been experimenting using cheap plastic pinhole cameras and linking them up to my Nikons. Sounds technical but it’s about the image. They’ve been coming out so soft, there’s an atmosphere to them.

You've really focused over recent years on fashion. What is it that really got you excited?

Because you're shooting so many different talents in one image. First the amazing work done by the fashion designer. So that's kind of exciting, the style, fabrics and materials that's gone into it. Then there’s the skill of the stylist and the model – casting is a skill in itself. So that's another facet being brought in. There’s location, hair and makeup – all these things. And then you, the photographer. I'm playing with all of these elements to create a unique piece of work, something aspirational – it's a joy.

You've worked with some great publications like Vogue, Hunger, Vulture and brands like Biba, Adidas and Olivia Rubin. Is there another dream brief out there you want to shoot?

Well, it’s not so much about the location for sure. I could shoot at the bottom of the garden as well as the Bahamas! Of course I aspire to work with the big fashion houses, Prada, Chloe, Celine etc, that would be great. Or different publications like Self Service or Purple. But I see certain clothes or models and I think ‘I could really do something with that’.

There was a shoot I recall you did a few years ago and that’s when I saw a real step-on in your style. You probably feel like you’ve moved well beyond that now, but at that point I saw you potentially moving into film. Is that something you’d like to do?

Oh yeah, I know that shoot. That was in a really seedy old hotel I’d scouted out. 

I didn't know anybody else who was really shooting like that and it had a filmic quality.

Yes it had a bit of Paris, Texas about it. Wim Wenders. 

Is that something that holds any interest for you?

Not yet. But maybe working with a crew so I could direct would be interesting. I present a lot of my work as two images side by side, one maybe incidental or still life and the other a model. I like the third picture that appears in your head when you see the images together. It’s an image that doesn’t exist but you make it up from the other two images. The space or crack between them. There’s a narrative just in those two pics. But the technical side of film is less interesting to me. It’s the narrative, imagery and emotion.

‘An image that doesn’t exist…’ That's a great quote. Maybe just one more question. What makes you pick up the camera now?

Today I saw some satsuma’s in a bowl. They were just going mouldy. The colours were amazing. I had to stop and shoot it. Random stuff just catches my eye, I look at other people’s work but not in the same way as I used to. Maybe it’s more about trends or checking out what some of the agencies are up to. 

I’ve always sourced from a wider range of influences, cinema, nature, a random crisp packet on the floor – which just inspires me. The object can be banal an object but the colour or location just set it off.

Well Paul, thanks for your time and thanks for your eyes! I’ve always found it liberating to work with you!

Yeah that’s cool. Let’s find a few more projects and really push it on.

Paul has a really interesting way of seeing things that others miss. You might want to think about how he could bring a fresh approach to your work. We were delighted to have him shoot the Firehaus set, some of which are on this website. You can see more of his work here.