JB. Magazine Blog : A Very Happy Accident ...

Has done crazy things, travelled the globe, seen places most people will never see. Shaun Bloodworth finally has reached his most fulfilling part of his career, that's what he says. www.shaunbloodworth.com

Why photography?
I don‘t know that there was a moment of epiphany, but fell in love with the idea of being a photographer, a photo journalist rather than a studio based one. One of the great things about going to art college is that you meet people who are much better than you at certain things, so you find your own niche. I met a friend who was producing work streets ahead of anything I'd ever seen before and that more than anything was the catalist.

How would you define your style. Where do you want to go / be with your art? As you get older and more confident the style and content of what you do move closer together. The idea of just producing beauty doesn‘t interest me anymore. I see so much commercial work that is finished to a fantastic degree and whilst it is technically perfect, it's that perfectness that spoils it. I try to style my pictures with a sense of realism. Why be one of a 1000 advertising photographers all producing the same perfection? And there are parrallels in music, which is why I listen to underground music. I don't know what level I'm at, just being happy with what I produce, that is important. I'm at a bit of a crossroad at the moment. I have always been very interested in films, so I'd like to persue that more, as the clock starts to tick though you get a sense of wanting to do things before time runs out.

You have a good mixture of available & artificial light, authenticity & staging in your portraits, which puts a certain focus on the person. What is your approach when working with people?
I tend to be quite calm on the outside, try to relax people and treat everyone with respect. I've learnt valuable lessons about not judging a book by its cover, working with young musicians. We are all too quick to judge, so now im very open. I learnt in college to make it easier for the next person who comes along. I still find it remarkable that through shared interest different people from exterme backgrounds can meet. I could have never imagined 10 years ago being able to share ideas with musicians half my age in LA, talk in depth about film with kids I'd have been wary of beforehand or discuss the multi media future with a broadcasting legend ? It's a remarkable world that we have now for communication.

The backgrounds and settings fit extremely well in the portraits. How do you choose the locations, how much can you control in advance?
Sometimes you can be lucky. I have a shoot in Manchester on Saturday and I know I‘ll be walking in blind, looking for slightly odd or very normal locations, nothing too obvious. Often you simply can't control what you are presented with.

What is your key idea about shooting photographs?
Always mood first, and without that, it will never ever work for me. I really like to create little scenarios in my own head, as it helps me because I can see the picture before even lifting the camera to my eye.

What inspires you these days?
Film. Mainly north european classics – Bergman, Herzog for content and Tarkovsky and Tarr for the sheer beauty and framing. Inspiration is difficult to pin down, youtube videos are shared, photos, exhibitions, objects. It's all around us.

You do a lot of projects together with Stuart of Give Up Art. How have you both met? How is working with him?
We met when he was a designer first, then Art Director later on for a magazine called Restaurant. We became good friends . He sent me all round the world, so when he needed a favour to shoot a cover for a freelance project I just did it as a return. That cover was one of the first Tempa Dubstep Allstars CDs. He took me afterwards to FWD>> the first club I'd been to in at least 10 years and I was hooked from there. Art Directors fall into two categories, those who want to be photographers or film directors, and those who want you as a photographer to take a feeling or mood they have and visualise it. Those are the truly talented ones and they are few and far between – Stuart falls into that category. It can seem from the outside that when we work together the photographer takes the lead, but that's because theres almost a telepathic relationship going on.

Have you always been into the electronic music scene or did it more or less happened by accident?
When I was growing up in the early 70s, Kraftwerk were getting big, and even as a child I remember Autobahn clearly being played at home. Computer Love I bought on a school trip to Germany, so I've always been drawn to that type of music. I heard Martin Ware from Heaven 17 speak recently and he talked about listening as a child to the giant Steel Forge hammers in Sheffield working repetively, and that engineering beat if you like, is hot wired through you if you‘re from Sheffield. It was just music I liked though, until the job I did for Stu, then as things progress all of a sudden you become a mini expert because you‘ve documented a scene, and now I'm fortunate to know lots of DJs and producers and I speak with them on the same terms.

How about living and working in Sheffield? Is this a benefit for you?
I lived in London for 5 years after college then moved out because I was starting a family. Then commuted for 10 years until Sheffield became an entity in itself and I could sustain the same stan- dard of living. I travel to London to work still, but I love Sheffield as it offers much more for me. I'm in a fortunate position where my life is exciting so I don‘t feel I'm missing out. Sheffield has a heritage of very inventive individual Graphic Designers, so I don't feel short changed. There's world class design here with the likes of Universal Everything, Peter&Paul and HumanStudio, as well as many smaller companies which work together as collectives. I've also been working recently with Ian Anderson, with whom many of these designers started

Thomas Hoepker said: „I am not an artist, I am a picture fabricant.“ and as you said „sometimes we‘ve lost sight…“. What‘s your opinion on that, especially in this digital and over information saturated era?
I find I'm competing with a type of pho- tographer that is a gun for hire. They are slick and businesses like. It's those pho- tographers who are thought of as being great now. When I said we‘ve lost sight, I mean also in content. My background was in documentary photography, taking an in depth view of a subject, having an opinion on it, and sharing that opinion. With the projects I've been involved in, I try to keep that philosophy. Photographers can get very prissy about changes. I used film for 10 years of my career before turning to digital, which is just a cheaper method of working, and if it means I can plough more money into shooting than worrying about film costs then I think that's a bonus. There is manipulation, but less than you think, and grading the colour is 
exactly the same as giving instructions to a printer in the old days. Technology now allows everyone to produce good pictures but you can't buy the way some people can see things. The point is that almost everyone has the same freedom to travel and witness, but for some it's a way of life rather than an add on to their trip. Not all of us can communicate in a way which touches people deeply, and for me that is where photography works at its strongest.

Interview: Jenne Grabowski JB. Magazine