Petzval LomoAmigo: Music Photographer Tom Sheehan

Last year, Lomography UK had the honor of hosting an exhibition by music photographer Tom Sheehan. Tom has photographed everyone from Mick Jagger, The Smiths, The Charlatans, Tom Waits, David Byrne to name just a few! We lent him a Petzval lens and asked him to test it on a shoot, and he granted us an exclusive interview.

Tell us about yourself. How did you get into photography?

I started work in a darkroom making tea and mixing developer, I worked my way up to becoming a photographic printer. After a few years I moved on into a studio where I was an assistant mainly working in the commercial and advertising photography. I was an avid buyer of the music press as a teenager up in to my early twenties. All the time dreaming of photographing bands, not being massively ambitious I didn’t do too much about it till I started buying Zig Zag magazine, the UK’s very first fanzine and run by Pete Frame, he of Rock Family Trees fame. Where the weeklies were dealing with glam and other style over content movements, I harboured inside the pages of ZZ who were still writing in more detail on bands like Moby Grape, The Grateful Dead, Captain Beefheart and a lot of American acts being ignored by the UK music press. They also covered a lot of UK music like Fairport Convention, John Martyn & Kevin Ayers. Seeing the photography in ZZ and the weeklies was quite exciting to me as it seemed that it looked such a special place to be when one creates a little piece of rock history. Something I have tried to do from way back then up to today. I love photographing bands, I love the fact that often as not there isn’t too much time due to all sorts of pressures they might have on them. Just trying to nail something you know represents them but you’ve made it yours. Something sadly lacking in modern day music photography.

How was it shooting with the New Petzval lens?

Normally my mode of operation is to work very quickly , with the Petzval one has to take a step back and think a little more as the focus is quite critical. I don’t think I’d like to have used it in many situations over my time as a photographer… like the time when Ozzy pissed on the Alamo, or I talked Snoop Dogg into wearing a hand cuff, when at the time we were on supposed to allude to a murder case that was going on at the time. Speed to me is the essence of a lot of the images I have captured and feel it’s not suited to tight situations. On the other hand the images I shot of my good friend Danny George Wilson of Danny and the Champions of the World were a joy as the effect we were aiming for suited him perfectly. It’s ideal providing you have the understanding of your sitter.

What do you love about film photography?

One knows when you have a great shot, you don’t have to look at the back of the camera or load it on to a mac. You just know, and the joy of seeing the negatives you have just developed is a great feeling. When doing studio sessions, one would shoot a few Polaroids just as a guide for the lighting, then you go in for real shooting both negative and positive film, all very exciting.

In your opinion, what makes the perfect portrait?

Trust

Have you had any difficult or challenging situations throughout your photography career?

Yes, many… Time , Travel , and those idiots who insist on dressing up a band. It’ll never stop amazing me that grown men and women can’t pick their own clothes. It’s left to some idiot without any natural style of their own who happens to read a few style magazines and try to replicate what they see on some poor saps from Bradford or somewhere who have made music that might change people’s lives. But the visual persona is left to someone who is quite frankly clueless about the sitter or music… it’s a crime. Don’t get me started.

Thanks to Tom Sheehan for this interview!

Visit Tom Sheehan's website for more information.

written by hannah_brown on 2014-10-10 #people #music #uk #lomography-gallery-store #gallery-store #lomoamigo #eastlondon #35mm-films #120-films #londonsoho #tom-sheehan #danny-champion