The Story of ICONS

The images that appear in ICONS were taken at locations around the world including photoshoots in London, Manchester, Glasgow and at events such as Paris Fashion Week and Super Bowl XL in Detroit.

The Camera

The portraits featured in ICONS were made possible by the rare Polaroid 20×24 Land Camera.

This huge piece of photographic equipment, 5ft high and weighing 235lb, was originally developed to enable the accurate reproduction of works of art such as paintings and tapestries. However, seeing the superbly-detailed 20 x 24in (50 x 60cm) prints the camera produces, photographers soon started to use it as a creative tool.

The camera uses a continuous roll of film rather than separate sheets; the negative is destroyed in the process, so each print is a genuine one-off. The patterning around the edge of the image (produced by the developing chemicals) is similarly unique to each print. As for the distinctive sepia tinting, this is the result of deliberately using mismatched components, a quirky film combination that produces some beautiful imagery.