AN ARCHIVE OF PAST EXPLOITS, RANDOM CREATIVE EPHEMERA AND PERSONAL INTERESTS IN
NO PARTICULAR ORDER. SCROLL AND ENJOY.
After I left London and moved to the South coast, I bought a Risograph printer and started a little brand called SUPERARTCLUB, selling limited edition prints that I designed in my spare time. It was a lot of fun, but the machine was enormous and heavy and I sold it in the end. Like many other things in my life, I wish I'd held onto it, but the garage was required for more important items, like the sea kayak which I only ever used twice.
A compilation of shots from a commercial photography job for posh workspace company FORA. You can see more on my PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE
A press photo from my second TV job- as part of HYBRID TELEVISION - a unit of six young upstarts making live TV shows in Bristol's HTV region. It looks like a press shot for a 90s crime TV series
Back in the 90s I was heavily involved in the streetwear and clubbing scenes- one of my most successful projects was TOKIO - a cyberpunk inspired streetwear brand which ended up being featured in the V&A's seminal STREETSTYLES exhibition.
STREET 2.0 is an ongoing project in absurdist photographic manipulation. I like to play with random moments of street photography from my archive and make them... better. See more HERE
I LOVE FLOWERS...
Back when I was a student studying doing a degree in graphic design and animation at Leicester Polytechnic (now DeMontfort University) I formed a DJ crew with 3 friends. Called BAAAD VIBES, Chris, Clive, Paul and I held Jazz/funk/soul/hip hop nights across Leicester and the Midlands. It was a roaring success and after my degree I almost went into the music promotion business, but decided to stick to my design / film and creative roots. I'm still a big vinyl collector to this day, and wouls love to get back on the decks.
A big part of the success of Baaad Vibes was our use of good design and marketing. Chris and I spent a lot of time creating cool posters and flyers that helped to build a powerful identity for our brand of music in an era when club flyers were in their infancy. In an era when eveyone was putting on a club night, our use of iconic design and smart copy promised a good night out.
The music was damn good too, and still is.
The music was damn good too, and still is.
Possibly the coolest photo I own. My dad (far right) and his mates waiting for help next to their broken down car somewhere in Nairobi.
TIME FOR ACTION - DJ Yess and D Crime are legends of UK hip hop. I got to know them during my degree course in Leicester and directed the music video for their hit record "TIME FOR ACTION" - shot over a number of days on the streets and in the clubs of Leicester (and secretly edited using the university's editing kit) , it was the runner up on the BBC's Dance Energy music show hosted by Normski and is now a part of local history. Their is a plaque on the streets of Highfields in Leicester that mentions the birth of hip hop music and the role that the record played in putting Leicester on the map as a part of national hip hop culture.
I love cameras. They're beautiful mechanical objects, and I never leave the house without one.
In 2109 I was invited to join a panel of architects at The Royal Courts of Hong Kong to discuss my thoughts on modern architecture. I swore a lot and questioned whether
modern cities and modern living were eating away at human happiness in our rush towards "progress" . I think it went well.
modern cities and modern living were eating away at human happiness in our rush towards "progress" . I think it went well.
After lockdow, I ended up doing a lot of work with Danish furniture brand BoConcept. They had a lot of existing video assets and photography to which I added some further photography which I concepted and commissioned from Yellows studio in Denmark. I then wrote and put together this ad as part of a new global TV campaign.
After movin to the south cosat, I spent many years commuting to london for work. To kill my boredom I started to doodle on images in the Guardian. The resulting images from his project ended up as a little blog called Paperchap, which you can see HERE - I got bored after about 60 days but it killed some time...
NIGHTSPUNK: in 2009, Channel 4 's ComedyLab commissioned a series of comedy shows made by upcoming comedy and directing talent. I was asked to direct a half-hour show called "Mr & Mrs Fandango" featuring Tom Meeten and Barunka O'Shaughnessy. We had a lot of fun...
GAH! was the first book I published under my UNUSUAL EYE imprint. A collection of absurdity and not so subtle photographic manipulations that captured my mood at the time.
THE CURSE OF GOOFY PEPPER! a hand-drawn animation I created whilst on my degree course back in the day. I still don't know what it all means.
I started IDEAS - my first design company- in 1989. This the ad I had in the back of ID magazine at the time. I was based in a business unit in Leicester, and didn't have a clue what I was doing.
I dabbled in stand-up comedy for a while, and actually ended up doing a number of shows at The Edinburgh Fringe with my comdey persona: "JD - international man of business" - he was a sort of pastiche of my old indian uncles, always full of advice and "common sense"- this is a little JD movie, giving advice on love, relationships and so forth. The older I get, the more JD I become...
My third TV job was as Presentation Co-ordinator at Nickelodeon. Basically, I was responsible for running their Live TV studio at The Trocadero in London, directing the Live TV and coming up with fun ways to make live content. The studio was in a shop window, which led to large crowds of kids staring in as we were working. her I am in action during a live link
CITY BY THE SEA was my second street photography book, published under my UNUSUAL EYE imprint- it featured moody and poetic moments of life captured on the streets of Brighton. It sold out very quickly, but You can find out more about it HERE
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Click on the images above to enjoy some of my Spotify playlists. Stylish French grooves and mellow moods await...
Suited and booted- a press shot of me as creative director at Paramount Comedy
A TV ad I wrote and directed back when I was creative director of Paramount Comedy (now known as Comedy Central) - with voiceover by the brilliant Mel & Sue
BOOKS- a series of designs for 70s pastiche sci-fi book covers based around the Sussex region for no reason whatsoever
TRANSITION TIMES - a music video shot for Leicester hip hop production legend DJ YESS and my old mates on a cheap Canon dslr with a single light in his garage in Leicester over the space of 2 hours. Working on this helped me to build my skills with Adobe Premiere, and I love the raw "live energy of this video.
Me in action direction a TV ident shoot for Paramount. It was shot overnight in Covent Garden's famous Sanctuary spa (which is sadly now a branch of Peloton) - with all that water and steam, the electrics and safety was a nightmare, and of course I wanted a disco vibe...
A piece of "auto-animation"- this is JOURNEY. It was totally unplanned, over 400 frames of drawings that were a stream of consciousness. I love my music, and I found a rare piece of funky Jazz called "Tuane" by a group called Hammer which seemed to fit the mood perfectly
SEXY DISCO- another sketch from Channel 4's Mr & Mrs Fandango - I had a lot of fun messing about in a chromakey studio and managed a little "accidental" walk-on cameo in
this homage to 70's Bollywood
this homage to 70's Bollywood
I love cameras and vinyl
BERNIE - a cinema commercial I concepted and directed for Paramount Comedy in the early 2000s- shot on super 35mm film, it was a big production for such a seemingly simple concept, and
Mr Clifton was brilliant to work with. He ran marathons with that ostrich.
Mr Clifton was brilliant to work with. He ran marathons with that ostrich.
Behind the scenes on the shoot for BERNIE
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More Spotify playlists- lush soulful 80s pop and the golden era of Yacht Rock... click on the images to listen
Some sketches from a family holiday to St Ives
WHO'S NEXT? My artist and musician friend Taren Moore asked me to make a music video for his music persona "MagicVan" a number of years ago. Shot in his flat in Hackney, It cost £50 make in total and involved snails, beach detritus, adult entertainment videos and chapatti dough. I had a lot of fun and the snails were not harmed.
This is LOON FUNG, my local Chinese takeaway. whenever I was waiting for an order I'd grab a few cheeky photos with a high powered flash because the interior was so cool. Every time I visited, I offered to buy the plants but always received a polite NO. Sadly, Loon Fung has now closed down and that makes me very sad.
My book HOMETOWN features over five years of photography captured on the streets of Leicester. It's published by the documentary photography publisher FISTFUL OF BOOKS and
you can order a copy if you click HERE
Back when I was creative director at Paramount Comedy I put together my first commercial showreel featuring clips of all the stuff I'd directed and made. This is it.
Revel in late 90's cgi and super 16mm film footage
Revel in late 90's cgi and super 16mm film footage
RITUAL was my first series of photographs published in Black + White Photography magazine. capturing life at a West Sussex car boot sale, you can see the series HERE
Back in 89 / 90, hip hop burst onto the scene in a bigger way, fronted by NWA's raw style. I designed a range of rap-inspired streetwear called Atitude, which was made and distributed by ACME, a London- based music Tshirt company. This was the golden age of the long-sleeved top
After leaving Disney in 2007 , I put together another showreel to help me find my next ...thing. It's a total mess of content - branding, comedy and other stuff, and it was at this point that I started to move away from TV (a world which loves a pigeonhole) and instead reinvent myself as an ideas person,. I do love a bit of P-funk, and Parliament's "Flashlight" just about held this showreel together.
This was a global TV commercial I directed and edited for Danish furniture brand BoConcept, to celebrate their 70th anniversary. I storyboarded the sequence which was shot by the famous Yellows studio in Denmark. Working with an old animation friend Andy, we created a cool way of adding 3D moved to 2D stills photography that really brought the thing to life.