Peaky Blinders at Rosefield Mills

I was meeting up with Tracy for a hot chocolate to discuss the photo shoot she had won in the raffle, in which I'd offered a prize for a fundraiser for Rosefield Mills – an incredible old Victorian building on the River Nith in Dumfries, which has been falling into ruin for decades and was hoping to be bought by the Dumfries Historic Buildings Trust.

I've offered photo shoots in charity auctions before now, and what's great about them is the people are bidding for it because they genuinely want it. Raffles, on the other hand, can be a real hit-or-miss affair. Winners might not be that interested, not know what to do with it, or demand I photograph their pets.

Tracy was apologetic. She didn't really know what kind of photography to ask for and feared what she had won was maybe too big a prize – perhaps it should be given to someone else. I reassured her she had won the shoot fair and square, and said it was a chance to really have some fun. We didn't just have to do a portrait – we could do something spectacular. She could dress up, get friends and family involved, find a great location, and create something really memorable.

As the conversation developed, it transpired that she and her husband were Peaky Blinders fans – a 1920s period drama about gangsters in Birmingham. It's a fantastic series – beautifully shot and brilliantly acted (and very violent). It also turned out that a friend of theirs was having a Peaky Blinders themed birthday party the following month, so they were already getting outfits sorted out for it.

I'd just found out that the purchase of Rosefield Mills was successful, and in a conversation with Mark Zygadlo from the Dumfries Historic Buildings Trust, he said we could use it for the shoot if we wanted, and attached to the main building was an old, empty warehouse.



It all seemed like a wonderful opportunity to create something cinematic. Soon we were discussing friends she could rope in, and the fact she had a horse too (horses feature strongly in Peaky Blinders), while I was thinking about creative lighting and possibly smoke bombs to add atmosphere.

In the end it was one of most fun shoots I've ever done. 10 enthusiastic people in costume, with a horse, and a couple of hours of time to play with lighting and posing. Here's a selection of my favourites, although for the full set, click here for the Facebook album:


The Guys


The Gals


The Fight


On horseback

Knowing I would really want a record of this, I managed to drag a couple of photographer friends - Allan Wright and Andy Jardine - along to shoot some behind-the-scenes video footage for me, which I edited together with the Peaky Blinders theme tune (see below - it's less than 2 minutes long).



I've been itching to show all this off for a few months now, but we've been holding back to tie it in with an appearance in the latest edition of Dumfries & Galloway Life magazine. Mark Zygadlo wrote an article about the shoot and the story behind getting the building, and I was delighted to see they'd used several of my images, including a full double-page spread of the big group shot.

Huge thanks to Mark for getting us the space to use, and being my smoke bomb operator, and to Tracy, Chris, Peter, Hannah, Katie, Andrew, Robbie, Linzi, Gail, Mhari and not forgetting Wallace the pony, for getting completely into their roles, which allowed for such epic shots.







Make sure you pick up your copy of the December/Christmas issue of Dumfries & Galloway Life - out in the shops now!