How much would you say that your past has helped you in the photography world? I’d say that it has helped immensely. I am very comfortable working with artists and it is where I feel the most relaxed and that definitely comes from my career in music. It just means I can concentrate on the job in hand. There is a common ground that I can relate to them on which really makes it so much easier. Coming from a label side of things and having to deal with marketing and promotion for bands it means I know exactly what the band needs to set themselves apart from all the other bands. It’s definitely about getting their personality out on the day too. I like to think that my shoots are a relaxed and fun experience. If the band/artists are bored or pissed off I don’t think they are going to look very good in a photograph. It’s not something I consciously do; I think I’m just lucky to work with awesome people. I always have a really good time on set. I think maybe a lot of people reading this will think that because of the people I have worked with in the past that it has been easy for me and I just called up old friends, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I am not the kind of guy who likes to do anything the easy way. I have gotten to the position I am in now by hard graft and I never really mention my previous career. This is probably the first time I have talked about it publicly. In fact I run my photography business under my first name Richard as it’s easier for my clients to understand and pronounce. My middle name is Alwyn which is the name I go by and went by when I worked in the music industry. So in terms of getting work it has helped me very little. This also means my initials are RAD!! Haha
You recently completed a shoot with The People the Poet, so how fun was this experience for you, and how did you go about getting the best possible shots from the band? That was a really good shoot actually. Definitely one of my favorites, it was the first time I had met the band, we have a similar sense of humor so it wasn’t long before I was nick named ‘Dick’ with hundreds of dick jokes during the shoot. I think it’s safe to say that The People the Poet love Dick! It was pretty rushed and crazy to start with, we had arranged to do the shoot at an antique flea market in Cardiff which looked incredible. I spoke to the owner who said it was cool to shoot anywhere . We got in and set up in an area where they had these incredible red leather chairs. When we started shooting a guy came over and said “what are you doing then?” in all innocence I said doing a photo shoot for Rocksound, smiled then carried on. He stayed there watching, which I was cool with, it was a public place and I’m used to that sort of thing. Then he said “What’s in it for me then?” confused I said “err I don’t know, what do you want?” “I don’t want anything but it’s my shop!” Unknown to me each area in the building is run by individual sellers and we just hopped on all his expensive antique furniture without asking. As you can imagine he was pretty pissed off. I explained what the owner had said etc and he was he was still pretty miffed so we decided to move on to another area. We spoke to the owner this time, she was lovely and let us shoot there as long as we wanted. That was where we took the finished image. With that shoot, like most of my shoots I get the best out of people by just having fun and being natural and then finding the right image that suits the band just follows. After a while they relax, I relax and it leaves you open to ideas and opportunities to get the right shot.
Also just recently you headed to this years Merthyr Rock Festival, how was this festival for you, and do you have any particular photography highlights from this event that you can share with us? I really enjoyed Merthyr Rock it was the first time I had been there and I was blown away by how well it was organized and the incredible acts they had playing there. I had been booked by The People the Poet to do behind the scenes shots for them which is something I had done for The Joy Formidable when they supported The Manic Street Preachers. I am a big fan of the photography of Jim Marshall and that style is not really done anymore. I love the access all areas images that capture those special moments that people don’t usually get to see. As I was only booked to do those shots on the first day of the festival I chose not to shoot the other bands. I just hung out watched some incredible bands and chatted with old and new friends. It did feel really strange to not have my camera in hand but I really enjoyed the festival and I will definitely be going back next year. Whilst talking to Gavin Butler of The Blackout I did come to realize that I actually missed out on signing them as they had sent me a demo when I worked for MA. We laughed but I felt pretty embarrassed and gutted. They are a great band. It goes to show that if you work in A&R you have to listen to every single demo!!