I recently had an interesting assignment for The Times of London saturday magazine, to enter a world unlike any other; where seemingly normal people played out there fantasies….as fantasy characters, and danced in a dance- off…..yes, a fantasy dance-off. Blizzcon is the annual ‘festival’ of Blizzard Entertainment, creators of the video game ‘world of warcraft’ and it’s like Vegas meets toysrus on steroids. Vegas because the three huge conference arenas are dark, packed and endlessly huge, lit only by the glow of thousands of computer screens reflected off expressionless faces staring into oblivion.

But this is the kind of assignment i do enjoy. Where you can literally slip un-noticed into someone else’s world. Observe, capture, document. And with the subjects being so immersed in their own goings on, you can simply shoot and think creatively, without anyone bothering you, or asking questions. I love just being able to roam unfettered. But i have to say, the costumes some of these people created…..quite unbelieveable, they literally shoot themselves. So thank you, made my life easier!

This shoot had all the ingredients for a real Hollywood moment…..yes, she’s the daughter of Patti, great-granddaughter William Randolph Hearst, the shoot was done at The famed Chateau Marmont Hotel in the actual bungalow where John Belushi overdosed……. and finally halfway through the shoot actor Jeff Goldblum casually walks in to say hi! Just another day at the office.

Ryan Reynolds & Jason Bateman shot for Empire magazine

Above is our recent shoot with former US Open Champion at Congressional, Ken Venturi, who won in 1964, in the current issue of Golf World Magazine. Ken was great to work with, and at 80, was quite happy to work through a number of different shots around his home in Palm Springs. In fact we just basically turned it into a photo studio. But he was cool with that, so i can’t argue. He has a fascinating story of how he fought massive heat stroke to win the title back in ’64. I guess they didn’t have tiny little water bottles in those days! And below current US Open Champion Graeme McDowell. We shot him a few years ago, when he was nothing but a wee lad. Look at him now, all growd up and winning majors!

Last month we did a fun shoot with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on the golf course, obviously! I have to say she was great to work with and quite malleable. I use that expression in terms of how open a subject is to ideas. Sometimes, with high profile people, you just never know. It can go either way. But i think after having been doing this for twenty years or so, that’s where the experience comes in. Knowing when and how to open your big mouth. This is in itself the art of portrait photography if you ask me. Anyway, the other personally gratifying aspect of this shoot, is that i was in effect backing up a personal photo- hero of mine, none other than the great Walter Iooss jr, who i believe was originally slated for this shoot. It feels great to be in such good company. You can read the full article here: http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2011-06/condoleeza-rice-interview

Here’s a really nice shoot we did, in this weeks People magazine. A four page story about a family of race- horse trainers, who’s father was nearly killed by falling hay bails, and the family business had to taken over by his teenage son. The son went on to win his first race ever as a trainer, and is now a rising star in the horse racing business. On a personal note, i have to say the family were the nicest, most down to earth people you could find, and were very accommodating for our two day shoot, with a shooting schedule of early mornings and dusk. But the good news is…. i did learn how to rope a cow, cowboy style! Ok, so my cow was a wooden one, but still, it’s a start.

portfolio; updated (2.0) from robert gallagher on Vimeo.

Ok, so you wanna flip through my book again, but still don’t wanna wait for that Fed Ex? Well, that’s still not a problem. And now it’s bigger, better and more in- your- face than ever before! Deal with it.

Here’s a great post blog post from my rep Wonderful Machine on our recent adventure-filled shoot with John Mellencamp.

Thursday November 11th, 2010

Robert Gallagher has risked his life for rock n’ roll. The LA-based WM photographer recently had a potentially jarring experience involving famed rock star John Mellencamp and a three-foot blade pulled from the top of a walking cane. According to the profile in Q Magazine, Mellencamp started the photo session by “swishing about” said blade, declaring, “alright, you’ve got 30 f***ing minutes!”

Mellencamp, apparently, is not fond of photo shoots. But where a lesser photographer may have faltered, Robert, undeterred, rose to the occasion. “That pretty much set the tone for the afternoon,” Robert told me. “But to be perfectly honest, it didn’t bother me. I didn’t feel he was really trying to threaten or scare me.” Though Robert wasn’t scared, the article describes Mellencamp delivering a knockout punch to a previous photographer, who invaded the temperamental rocker’s personal space to make adjustments. Nevertheless, Robert had a strategy:

“I was confident that if I just focused on my thing, to capture the devil-may-care artist, then he’d get it and be on board with me creatively. And that’s pretty much what happened. In fact, the 30 minutes turned into 50, which his manager pointed out never happens, with a quick jaunt around the area in his little bone-jarring ATV to shoot some artworks he’s collected.”

I caught up with Q photo editor Russ O’Connell to hear a little bit about why Robert was such a good fit for this assignment. “I knew that I could depend on Robert to shoot him in his natural environment, his home,” Russ explained. “We were lucky to have unrestricted access to John at his home and Robert’s work fits perfectly with the type of images I was looking for, nice raw uncomplicated portraiture. He’s also great at that important reportage angle that I needed for the feature… what you see is what you get with his work, and that’s down to his skill in camera.”

Robert is “particularly proud” of this shoot. First of all, he admires Mellencamp for “his political beliefs, despite the negative attention he draws. He is someone I greatly respect for standing up and being counted.” The wider reason is that he sees Mellencamp as an “outspoken cultural icon, a driven creative spirit, and someone whose sounds represented the freedom of the American spirit, which we’d crank full blast out of a convertible Triumph Spitfire back in our college days in North East England.”

-Asad

Everyone’s favourite vampire Robert Pattinson is our first cover in china. It’s actually a pretty nice looking magazine, i have to say i’m impressed. http://emag.bundpic.com/