Good morning, Chris. How are you?
Things are good, things are good. I took my kids to the ballet last night, so I’m creatively inspired and ready for this!
Amazing. A good way to start!
Absolutely. Ballet dancers train their whole lives for that performance, and it’s incredible to sit back and watch. It’s a big deal. Excellent fun. And the kids sleep really well after it, which is a bonus!
Can you introduce yourself and tell me about your background?
I’m Chris Gloag, a professional portrait photographer living in Birmingham and working internationally. I focus on a mixture of lifestyle, advertising and corporate portraiture. My background is in geology, which I studied at university before quickly realising that I didn’t want to be a geologist working in the waste, oil or water industry. So, I decided I’d become a postman for a while and learn about the world, and I did a Photography B-Tech part-time in the evenings for two years before getting into Edinburgh College of Art to study at degree level. So, I had some life experience before I found photography, which opened my eyes. I came out of art school with a 2:2 — not a very good degree — and then something clicked and I discovered how light works. I learned how to take pictures properly and not in an ‘arty’ way. Commercial photography changed my approach and I truly enjoyed it. I began by assisting for Lawrence Winram before moving to Brighton. Still, during that period I took pictures at the Edinburgh film festival and managed to build up the beginnings of a portfolio.
What shape did your portfolio take? What kind of work was in there?
I was lucky enough to capture some famous faces. Some of that early work is still in my folio now. I naively went to the Guardian and the Sunday Times magazine with a book. I said, ‘Can I have some work? Can someone look at my work and tell me what they think?’ They were great and decided to give me a few bits to get me going. I’d be doing relatively mundane work for a PR company for 35 quid a time. So that’s how I started. Not glamorous, but it instilled in me an understanding that you sometimes need to take the work when it’s there to get yourself going. When working with the Guardian, I’d shoot in film, 55mm medium format, and deliver on a CD. So times have changed — it’s so much easier now, but it’s what got me going.
What first inspired you to pursue a photography career?
A good question. I’ve always been arty, but I didn’t have a creative in the family. So, it wasn’t like the thing to do.
My family consisted of teachers, opticians, and serving in the military. Yeah, so I didn’t see it as a realistic career. I didn’t fit in at school — I’ve always been arty and restless. You know, the whole ADHD experience. I remember taking photographs on my first camera and loving it. I liked the hands-on process of chemical photography. Exposing and developing my own film. I loved that, and I also loved the immediacy of the career. You get paid for what you do — there’s a career path. If you get better at it, you get paid more. That tempted me. It’s more transactional than a lot of creative jobs.
What was the moment you realised photography was for you?
It was wandering around Leeds as a postman and thinking, ‘I’ve got to get out here and do something that brings me joy.’. I would think, ‘Well… people do make pictures…’ and I’d always been amazed by magazine photography. There’s a magical element with photography that is allows you to time travel in a sense. If you want, you can take you back to the Crimean War or into the Victorian era, or places you’ve never been physically. I loved that photography could move you. So I thought, ‘I’m good at this, I’ll give it a proper go’.
Risk-taking is so important for creatives. There are very few ‘safe’ careers in the industry, so there’s a leap of faith required and a belief that you can do anything. What do you think?
Yes, absolutely. It’s the naivity of youth — you feel you can jump off the cliff like a lemming and someone will catch you. It’s like Homer Simpson on this first day at work. He didn’t turn up, because he said, ‘somebody will cover for me’. I like that joke. ‘Somebody will cover for me’. The truth is that you need to take risks, otherwise you’ll never progress.
Were there any local influences that inspired your style or career in general?
I assisted Lawrence Winram in Edinburgh. He’s a brilliant photographer. Very creative and also very open. He told me everything I needed to know about photography. Business, money, contracts, clients. He’s very similar to you — he’s straight up and will give you an honest opinion. No bullshit. Regarding stylistic influences, I still love the work of other portrait photographers, but I always liked older pictures and paintings. The poses and the lighting, the approach to clothing and how they are standing. It’s a different way of looking at things.
You went to Edinburgh College of Art — how was that?
It was quite a good experience. It was a difficult period of my life, truth be told. It was one of those periods where things were falling apart and they weren’t coming back together. That all happened for me after college. Art school provided a vacuum to find yourself in, but I didn’t find that helpful. I needed more structure and direction than art school could give me. At college, the tutors tried to get you to think conceptually about your work, rather than the technical aspects. The two need to go hand-in-hand.
You mentioned that you then ‘discovered light’. How did that come about?
Yeah, that was the moment it all clicked into place. I was taking pictures commercially and getting paid, so I had to learn how to make a shoot work. Just think about the natural light available on a shoot, or what flashes you need to make something interesting happen. You slowly build up your gear and find rhythms and ways to make it all work for you. Light is the key to making that happen. Once you figure out how to control light, you can photograph anything.
How did you find the transition into paid work?
I loved it. Commercially, you’ll be told, ‘We need this by Tuesday. It’s got to be a picture of this person, and we don’t want it to be too shadowy or dramatic. Then you go off and do it. The brief is tight. There are endless ways to make that photograph happen, but you have some parameters to work within. In the early days, I also did a lot of wedding photography. At some point, I started shooting weddings. I worked with another photographer, Richard, and we shot around 50 weddings together. We threw ourselves in and bought all our gear and off we went. That sharpened our edge. You’ve got to turn up on time, in a suit, and you’ve got to shoot all day long. You need to be able to change your lenses quickly and you can’t lose a single picture. You’ve got to have all your batteries in, charged and ready to go. It’s a military operation, and it just has to be done that way. It became engrained in my practice and I’m still like that today. It’s like a chef, cutting a thousand potatoes before they’re allowed to make a chip. It helps you become comfortable working with people and crowds, and that is something you can’t learn at college.
What principles underpin your process?
Everything has to be in the same place. My gear doesn’t go into my bag unless there’s a card and a battery and everything’s charged. It’s just not allowed to. I have very strict, rigorous processes to keep myself in check. My bag is ready to go at a minute’s notice — I could pick it up at any time and know I won’t let myself down. I don’t have to think about it, there’s never any question whether my gear is ready.
That’s the pre-shoot stuff. I always try to turn up half an hour before kick-off for shoot day. I get a coffee and I chill out. I never used to do that and wish I’d been told not to worry about being there too early. Just go down, get comfortable, and get into a relaxed headspace. Don’t rush into a shoot or turn up 5 minutes before. You’ll be stressed, which will make the client stressed, and the shoot will be stressful. The images will look stressful. Take your time, because their time is precious too. Here’s an example. I had a job photographing Willy Walsh, CEO of British Airways. I had one minute with him. One minute — that’s all the time he had. So you need to be ready to go. I know the flash setting for the f-stop I’m using. I knew he had just been grilled by journalists for an hour and wanted to leave. So let’s make that 60 seconds count. Let’s slow things down. If I’m calm, he’ll be calm.
What brings you joy?
Right now, I just love being outside and seeing nature. For anyone starting out, I’d say one of the most important things is to fill your life with experience and skills. To make art, you need an artist. You can find inspiration anywhere, but you must be ready to receive it. You can be doing anything, as long as it’s something you enjoy. If you want to skateboard, go and do that. But if you want to go and plant broad beans, do that. Just go and do what you like doing.
What’s your biggest challenge as a photographer?
Oh, just remembering what day the shoot is on. My brain is artistic, and I get fight or flight when I have to do a tax return or anything like that. It’s much easier now though as people send you calendar invites and it all clicks into your diary automatically. Technology is great and it’s much easier to be productive. In the early days, I was more concerned about saying the wrong thing — being too excited, not being excited enough. That comes from inexperience and not being exposed to a wide range of people. I can take pictures of anyone now, but in the early days, I’d be shooting a 60-year-old CEO of this massive company, and I’m a 25-year-old and at the start of my journey. What do I say to him? How do I make him feel comfortable? ‘Do you have a helicopter?’, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a helicopter.’ OK. ‘Yes, that’s my Aston Martin.’
That brings back some traumatic memories for me, too!
It’s just inexperience. I know you’re the same, but I can speak with anyone now without feeling uncomfortable. Ask them a normal question about their life. ‘How old are your kids?’. You’ve got to have fun. Another photographer once told me to be quiet when you’re taking a portrait. Let the person come in, take their portrait, and see what they bring to the shoot. Then you can add stuff, or you can take something away. But first you need to see what you can bring out of them. Typically, it’s either the first or the last picture that is the best.
What advice would you give to young creatives?
Feed the artist. That’s my advice. Come back full of stories. You’ll be able to look anyone in the eyes, have a conversation with them, and take their picture.
I agree. You need to find a work/life balance, too. You can’t just become a designer or photographer and obsess over it and nothing else. You have to go out and see the world and do interesting things. Otherwise, you’ll be the most boring person in the room.
That’s exactly what I’d say. As Christopher Doyle — an Australian cinematographer —says, ‘do whatever you got to do. Take drugs, just go do whatever you do. To make art, you need to be an artist.’ So, make the art. That’s my first advice. I believe to make art, you first need an artist. So, go feed the artist.
Any advice about equipment?
In terms of resources, I’d recommend people think long and hard about how they spend their money on their equipment. It’s a big question. Because, to be a photographer, people think you need the most expensive gear. I’m not convinced you do. Get equipment you can afford, then build from there. Regarding photography work, your portfolio needs to be 85% there. 85% maximum. If your portfolio is 99% perfect, you’ve spent too long on it. Every person is going to say something different about your portfolio. If you react to each one and change it, it won’t be yours any more.
That’s a great point. You need to know when the job’s done and when to move on to the next thing.
Yeah. And when someone shows me their portfolio, they need to be confident about their work.
What’s the best advice that you’ve been given?
An advertising photographer once told me that advertising photography is one silver brolly. It was empowering. So, now I use one silver umbrella on my ad work. You can change its shape, and it changes the shape of the light. It’s simple, but you can do so much with one silver umbrella.
What advice do you wish you’d been given?
If you want to be a photographer, you need to be doing photography.
How would you describe the current creative landscape?
Absolutely skint. A lot of my creative work was for opera singers and classical musicians. For big agencies, large European newspapers, American magazines. Universities. These places have much less money than even 10 years ago. I would say we’re in a sort of the black hole sucking everything in towards. A few individuals control most of what we see just now. The Berlin Wall was an outward explosion of creativity. It was a spreading out of art. It was breaking apart the traditional painting and music scene — all of that energy came bursting out, didn’t it? But now, it feels very much like an inward ‘coming together’. Everything is tightly produced and controlled and looks the same.
Anything exciting coming up?
I’ll be putting my own advice to work and do a lot more exploring. I just want to go and photograph some new people in new places. It will give me that sense of energy. I’m in a new phase of life. Life changes a lot — it never stays the same. When you’re younger, you can focus on yourself, be quite selfish with your time and truly develop the artist in you. You can spend time and work the ways you want to work. Sometimes you need a bit more stability. Sometimes you need to feed the creative and make personal work.
Thanks for sitting down with me, was great to hear about your experiences.
That’s all right, take care! Thanks for thinking of me.
