The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

A Return to Moody Black and White...

Moody black and white portraits with deep shadows were once the mainstay of my photographic output. In fact it's pretty much fair to say it's what I built my reputation on for the first few years.

These days the staged narrative photos are where the majority of my creative time is focused, which I thoroughly enjoy doing. Every now and then, however, if the opportunity arises I like to leap back into the dark shadowy portraits.

At the weekend, Sean Taylor returned to perform at The Mill Sessions. I've done a few mean and moody shots of him over the past few years (one of which it ended up on the cover of his album, Love Against Death), so I caught up with him an hour or so before the evening began, camera in hand.

Here are my favourites from the shoot. As always, feel free to click on them for larger versions:


The face lit from one side only rarely disappoints when you're going for "moody"


I learned about 3 years ago that one of the best ways to get Sean relaxed is to let him play his guitar and shoot around him. He falls into the zone almost immediately, and I get a free performance.


My favourite of the shoot. One of the flashes failed to go off so initially I dismissed it. However, once I downloaded the images to the computer I suddenly saw the potential in it and immediately set to work, editing.

As always, the gig was superb and I've had his latest CD, The Only Good Addiction Is Love playing every chance I get since.

I'd recommend signing up for Sean's newsletter to keep up to date where he's playing. If it's anywhere near you then don't hesitate to go and see him. You won't be disappointed.

2 comments

Pat said...

They are very atmospheric photos and make one speculate on him as a person.

Kim Ayres said...

Thanks Pat. In person he's warm and friendly, and on stage he's engaging :)

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