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Visible Women with Caroline Criado Perez - Tortoise Media - Caroline Criado Perez – Visible Women Podcast - Charlie Clift

Caroline Criado Perez – Visible Women Podcast

Caroline Criado Perez has spent years investigating the gender data gap and how women are simply forgotten in a world designed for men. She’s just started a brilliant new podcast for Tortoise looking into this and trying to find ways to solve this giant problem. There are many shocking facts I’ve discovered in it. For example did you know that women are 17% more likely to die in car crashes than men, because we only use male crash test dummies? And women are way less likely to be diagnosed with a heart attack than men, because diagnosis is built on male examples. Oh, and female healthcare workers have to wear PPE that simply doesn’t fit them, so it just doesn’t work properly. Even kids playgrounds are routinely built in a way that disadvantages girls. It’s shocking to hear how we are constantly not including women when designing our world –...

 - Hannah Fry - Charlie Clift

Hannah Fry

I recently photographed Hannah Fry, the brilliant mathematician, presenter and wonderful human. Photographed in collaboration with her and her brilliant team we worked together to create a variety of image styles to feature across many different articles and platforms. Not only is Hannah an amazing mathematical mind – but she is also a brilliant TV maker. She has recently released a moving and insightful documentary about her experience with cervical cancer, something I recommend everyone to watch. The documentary explores the issues surrounding how we screen for and treat cancer, asking if we might be overmedicalising it, as well as following Hannah through her own treatments. See it here: LINK Massive thanks to the amazing team who worked on this shoot: Styling: Karen Smyth Make up: Karen Wagner Photo assistant: Oliver Mayhall Location: Studio Jones Retouching: Melissa Morgan Publicity: Maddy and Miranda at Mirador Management

Angela Gui - Die Zeit - Angela Gui – Die Zeit - Charlie Clift

Angela Gui – Die Zeit

Angela never meant to be a campaigner or a human rights activist, she wanted to be an academic. But Angela last saw her father in 2014 and is doing what she can to see him again. Seven years ago, Chinese agents abducted Gui Minhai, her father. He’s a Chinese-born Swedish citizen, a poet and publisher – and an author of many books related to Chinese political figures. When you ask Angela if her father is alive, she looks at you wordlessly for a long time, then says: “I think so, but I don’t know.” This was a challenging and moving brief – to capture the uncertainty of Angela’s situation in a photograph. Thankfully Angela wanted to take part in my creative efforts, so we experimented together, trying different approaches. Big thanks to Angela for being so open, to Ludwig Ander-Donath for the commission, to Oliver Mayhall for his great assisting,...

Jordan Douglas - Distort – a dance collaboration - Charlie Clift

Distort – a dance collaboration

Take a krump dancer and ask him to contort the conventional. Ask a stylist to twist the traditional. Then encourage a jazz drummer to let loose. This personal project was an awesome fun collaboration. Working with the epic dancer Jordan Douglas was amazing. Just watching this man move was mesmerising, and then getting to push and cajole and encourage him – so much fun. The energy on display was just something else. I also got to see what happens when I let Olliver Sharp loose – turns out he turns everything inside out. Then he takes out a pair of giant scissors and starts hacking away at the clothes. For the film part of this project I worked with top jazz drummer James Maddren to create a playful soundtrack. He created an improvised piece for us that used not just a drum kit, but also some old glass bottles he had lying about....

Alexander Skarsgard - The Sunday Times - Alexander Skarsgard – The Sunday Times Culture - Charlie Clift

Alexander Skarsgard – The Sunday Times Culture

I photographed the wonderful actor Alexander Skarsgard on the first leg of his publicity tour around the world to promote his new viking blockbuster ‘The Northman’. We met one quiet morning in the Soho Hotel, I had been given bedroom that I had turned into a photo studio. It had been cleared out of most of the usual things before I arrived, all that was left behind were a few chairs and a bathrobe… which turned out to be rather useful. Big thanks to Adam Hearn for the fun commission, to Oliver Mayhall for his great assisting, and to Charley McEwen for his wonderful grooming.

 - AOP Awards – Winner - Charlie Clift

AOP Awards – Winner

  I’m honoured to win an award at the at the Association of Photographers Awards. My image of Sadiq Khan got the Silver Award for portraits. Massive thanks to Russ O’Connell for the fantastic commission for The Sunday Times Magazine, especially for saying “think pensive” just before the shoot, brilliant advice. Also big thanks to Andy Greenacre for judging so kindly. Three other pieces of my work were also chosen as finalists in the awards: ‘Beyond The Horizon’, my dance film made with composer Segun Akinola and choreographer Demi Rox. Richard Dawkins photographed for The Sunday Times Magazine featuring Lindsey Spinks amazing wing background. And Michaela Coel photographed for Bafta. Big thanks to everyone who helped make these projects happen!

Gordon Brown - The Sunday Times Magazine - Gordon Brown – The Sunday Times Mgazine - Charlie Clift

Gordon Brown – The Sunday Times Mgazine

“They didn’t give me a chance” was one of the first things the ex-Prime Minister said to me. A man who seemed to be looking back as much as forward. It was fascinating to meet a figure who had been so present in politics whilst I was growing up. He was more excited to hear about me than to talk about himself, and even more eager to show us his home village. “Have you seen the bridges?” he said, referring to the massive structures spanning the Firth of Forth that tower over the place. He then took us off to a little seaside restaurant 15 minutes away, where he happily chatted away to the owner and was determined to eat before letting me photograph him on the beach. It was only at the end of our time together that he started to talk about his current charity work, and a...

Nadine Dorries - The Sunday Times Magazine - Nadine Dorries – The Sunday Times Magazine - Charlie Clift

Nadine Dorries – The Sunday Times Magazine

The Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, photographed for the cover of The Sunday Times Magazine. We had just 10 minute with the Minister, and I found out about the shoot the evening before. But a great team and a good plan go a long way. Big thanks to Russ O’Connell for the commission, to Dan Biddulph for the cover design and the colourful inside spread, and finally to Oliver Mayhall and Olivia Spencer for their great assisting.

 - Portrait of Britain – Winner - Charlie Clift

Portrait of Britain – Winner

My portrait of Michaela Coel is a winner in this year’s  Portrait of Britain by the British Journal of Photography. You can see it across the nation on digital billboards, from train platforms to massive roadside displays. If you spot it do send me a snap, I’d love to see in situ. My portrait of Glenda Jackson was also selected as a shortlisted image – so you can see both Glenda and Michaela in the book soon to be published by Hoxton Mini Press. Both images were photographed for Bafta to celebrate the awards each of these brilliant women have won. Massive thanks to Claire Rees and Jordan Anderson for commissioning me for these shoots.

Ruby Wax- The Sunday Times Magazine - Ruby Wax – The Sunday Times Magazine - Charlie Clift

Ruby Wax – The Sunday Times Magazine

Ruby Wax has helped so many people cope with mental health difficulties through her books, thoughts, talks and work. So it was a great honour to meet and photographer her for the cover of The Sunday Times Magazine. I had brought along a few ideas and Ruby was excited to experiment with them for me. From pouring water onto a giant mirror to printing out Ruby’s smile and then using that as a wonderful prop, it was super exciting to collaborate to make these photographs. Massive thanks to Russ O’Connell for the fascinating commission, to Oliver Mayhall for his assisting, to Dan Biddulph for the cover design and to Ian McIntosh for hair and make up.