Jim's Blog

Jim Marks is a celebrity photographer who has worked with almost every name from Madonna to Norman Wisdom. In this blog, he'll be telling us about the folk he photographs and giving us some tips and tricks so you too can be a top snapper.

There’s a lot said about photography and those that make their living behind the lens. Can a photo be a work of art? is one such musing, along with the idea that a snapper’s life is filled with glamour, models, air-kissing and behind- the- scenes peeks and secrets into the lives of the great and the gorgeous. But most photographers I know (myself included) are anoraks whose main topic of conversation is apertures. And the only exposure they’re interested in involves light. So, what I’m going to try and do in this column is give some real insight into my job and also provide some hints and tips on how to take a decent photo. Last week I took the publicity shots for Comic Relief, which involved working with Patrick Kielty, Claudia Winkleman and Melinda Messenger among others – all lovely. I had almost no time with them and so had to meet, greet and shoot in about ten minutes. The best thing to do when faced with having to take a good photo quickly isn’t to panic and wing it ( although I have been known to do both but that’s for another instalment. ) Instead: have your camera set, make eye contact with the subject, be polite, confident and light-hearted and make them relax with a funny comment. If in doubt, or you’re not feeling witty, flattery always works and will get them to smile. The worst thing to do is let the time pressure give you the appearance of a rabbit in the headlights: you need your subject to have faith that you know what you’re doing, not think you’re taking an off-kilter picture of their feet. I’ll leave it to your judgement on whether you rate the Red Nose pics.

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