Gotta light?

GOLD was a one-day arts and music event held in Shoreditch Town Hall on Saturday 27th of September. It coincided with the official launch of the Cultural Olympiad and provided an alternative platform for the very best of London and the UK’s arts scene. My part was to tap into all this creativity by inviting people to create their own light pictures. We built a huge black tent and handed out torches to all the willing subjects. Click here to see a selection of their 'Light Trails". 

Sunday Shoots-The Movie

Now showing on uber hip Current TV is a short documentary film on Seamus' Sunday Shoots. Talented film makers Luke Seomore and Joseph Bull have created an atmospheric piece entitled 'How to be a Sunday model'. Seamus is reported to be delighted, if a little embarrassed by all the attention. You can see the clip by clicking here.

Carr Alarm

National treasure Alan Carr is a man of many faces – pouty, endearing, silly, vulnerable, cheeky, sweet etc - all used to great comedic effect. So when Marie Claire needed a suitably interesting photo spread to accompany their Janet Street-Porter interview, they enlisted Boothnation to the cause.

As endearing in person as he is on the telly, Alan had us in fits of laughter as he posed and preened in the booth. Being such a ball of energy, the booth was the perfect capsule to contain and capture him in action. Over 100 shots and he was still pulling new expressions out of the bag!

The Marie Claire team loved the booth so much they booked us for their 20th Birthday party at One Marlyebone Road. A whole host of stars turned up to the event, including the likes of Mischa Barton, Roisin Murphy and Janet Street Porter. Rhys Ifan’s band The Peth played and the Glitter booth wowed the glam crowd with gorgeous black and white portraits and a live projection of the booth images.

Sky Booths

Guests at Sky1’s Autumn launch were treated to sneak previews of more than just the channels new line up when, mid way thru the event, huge projection screens suddenly beamed out images of guests posing in the two Boothnation Glitter Booths! Once the savvy crowd figured out the joke, the booths were swarmed with media folk vying for their moment on the big screen.

Justin Lee Collins couldn't get enough, jumping in and out of the booth with various acquaintances all night. Buff athletes from the Sky show 'Gladiators' were the favourite posing partners for many fans and they seemed very happy to oblige!

Park Life

Shooting sometimes hundreds of people each Sunday presents me with an interesting problem. What, in the name of all that's good and true, am I going to do with all these images. For the Silhouette shoot I decided to put everyone in a London park. I have always been amazed how, on a warm Summer day most of the population seem to fill the parks. Elbow to elbow different cultures and age groups just get on with their thing in total harmony. Barbecues, baseball, nappy changing, skateboarding, tai chi, and mini raves all happening at the same time. Humanity is alive and well.

Pearls of Wisdom

London-based property magnate David Pearl was the subject of this shoot for Lloyds Bank. David is familiar to anyone who watched the TV show Secret Millionaire. He  went undercover as a volunteer at the Queen Alexandra, the largest hospital in Portsmouth. I found myself  moved by how deeply affected he was by the difficulties people faced in that community. He changed a number of lives with his generosity and has continued to help groups in the area.

David is what I can only describe as a character. I do enjoy a character. As a subject he was impossible to control, chatting in an animated way throughout the shoot. At one point he asked me about my studio. " Its right by Columbia Road, in the East End" I said. "Oh I own most of Columbia Road ", he said, "and nearly all  the streets around it". He wasn't joking.

Streep in the Booth

The much anticipated smash hit Mamma Mia! The Movie (Universal Pictures) held their London press junket at the regal Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge. All the stars were out and we were delighted to invite the fabulous Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep,Amanda Seyfried and Stellan Skarsgård into our sparkling Greek island-themed Glitter booth.

Agyness Deyn, Henry Holland and Friends

The cool crowd came out to play on June 9th at Agyness Deyn's Get Extra Close party. Hosted by fab designer Henry Holland and sponsored by Wrigley's Extra, the party was held at The Village Underground in Shoreditch. Boothnation's 'Classic' booth was virtually under siege all evening as the glamorous fashionistas jostled for their beauty shots.

Deyn made her debut as lead singer with New York band The 5-o'clock Heroes, Alexa Chung, Peaches Geldof, Kelly Osborne and friends threw shapes to Henry Holland's retro DJ-ing and Boothnation kept the party going in the fabulous Fashion Booth. Pr company Brey Leino and event organisers 9pr ensured the evening went down a storm.

www.boothnation.com

Viktor & Rolf

Fashion design duo Viktor & Rolf (and Seamus) jostled for space at a packed Barbican Art Gallery for this special fashion beauty shoot. Using the Sunday Shoots concept visitors to the gallery were invited to take part. After a touch up from acclaimed make up artists Beauty Base the 'beautiful people' enthusiastically joined in.The evening, organised by the vivacious Helen O'Gorman and her wonderful team was a huge success attracting no less than 750 fashionistas. To see the results click here.

Stella McCartney at Selfridges

Booth Nation had a wonderful week in the Oxford Street Selfridges Store as part of Stella McCartney's 'World of Stella' promotion. Boldly emblazoned in the designer's graphic floral motif the booth was made available to the public for a small donation to the British Red Cross. Thousands of customers and a great many staff enjoyed the flattering beauty lighting and their unique instant print of the event.

Raindrops Rewarded

A big thank you to Daryl, a Sunday Shoot visitor, for taking part in last year's 'An English Summer' project. His rainswept portrait was chosen as a finalist in the prestigious Association of Photographers Awards 2008 and is now immortalised in the Awards book. Of over 4000 images submitted by members only 316 made it through to final show. To see all the selected images follow this link www.the-awards.com

A star is born

When Irish advertising agency CawleyNea TBWA were in search of the true face of boredom for their recent Entertainment.ie campaign they used the Sunday Shoots website as a casting resource. Hidden away in last year’s 'Roto Foto' project was the beautiful and spirited Eva Kiivit who unwittingly possessed a hidden talent for acting and, in particular, looking really, really bored. Shot by Seamus and art directed by Mark Black the poster campaign ran all over Ireland. Eva is rumoured to be working on a number of other expressions including mildly displeased and the elusive 'blue steel'.