Photographer
for all enquiries, email me on jdeh@mac.com
or Call me on +44(0)7860 340996
Radhika is a focused, intelligent and successful professional with a demanding full-time career, a happy marriage and a fast-growing daughter. Frustrated that ‘she did not take a good picture’ she agreed to collaborate with me in creating this portrait. I hope it reflects the person she is; confident, attractive and highly capable.
“When I look at this image I see some unusual juxtapositions which I think are really interesting… the modern woman in Edwardian times… the Indian woman in British society… the career woman in decidedly non-business attire… I understand the patriarchal undertones of the period, but I see at the very heart of the portrait a recognition and celebration of innate confidence and power, and the suggestion that it transcends era, race, garb”.
Keith Haviland founded Accenture’s Global Delivery Network, and led its technology services for clients on a global basis. In 2014, he decided to follow a personal passion and became a film producer. Two of his first films combine another passion around spaceflight. They are “The Last Man on the Moon”, which is a biography of Moon-walker Gene Cernan, and “Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo”. He’s also executive producer of “Dying Laughing”, a study of the art and psychology of stand-up comedy.
“There’s more in the pipeline,” Keith adds, “including two TV series, a documentary on the Spitfire, and major landmark projects around sport and some of the true legends of spaceflight.”
Keith is a long term friend and colleague and I have been wanting to capture him on camera for some time. We were finally able to arrange this a few weeks ago. The resulting image was inspired by an exhibition of modern American prints, including prints by Robert Rauschenberg which drew their inspiration in turn from the US space program. The image include spacesuits and other items connected to Spaceflight. In the image below we have used a space-flown camera to link Keith’s twin passions for film and space.
Samalie Lutalo is a civil servant, currently working on international development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Born to Ugandan parents and raised between London and South Africa. She has recently become engaged.
I am very proud that Samalie agreed to work with me in the development of this portrait and I hope it accurately reflects her personality; smart, capable, personable and effective. Samalie give you confidence in the future of the British civil service.
Samalie said: “This image was inspired by the feminine confidence of Josephine Baker, a famous African-American entertainer in Paris during the 1920’s. The portrait captures a strong sense of self-assuredness and a willingness to disrupt the status quo. The glamorous tone of the picture adds the element of performance – an awareness of being seen – and a celebration of the self.
I think that this portrait is an accurate representation of my current life motto: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how do you do it” – Maya Angelou.”
“I have always had a strong sense that I should have grown up in Regency England, the eldest son of a noble family with 10,000 acres and £250,000 in the three-per-cents. However, presumably due to some colossal celestial clerical error, I was born in the 1960s, the third of four sons in a 600 square foot bungalow in sectarian Glasgow. The picture is taken in the room in my house which attempts, in a small way, to address this karmic wrong. It’s my reproduction of a Georgian man cave (apparently they called them ‘libraries’) and in here it’s always 1813 and the French will soon need to be taught a lesson. Rather like today actually”.
Delphine Rivé is a modern European woman who was born in St Malo, Brittany, but now lives in London and works across Europe. She is a charming, vivacious and competitive character who combines a highly successful business career as a managing director in a large international consulting firm with an equally successful tennis career. The international tennis federation currently ranks her No 3 in the world for her age group. Delphine has also recently been invited to serve on a foreign trade advisory board for France.
The portrait was inspired by the portraits of John Singer Sargent, and other painters of Europe and America at the end of the C19. I trust that it presents Delphine as the confident, powerful and capable individual that she is.
Some time ago, Sarah Vernon of First Night Design published this article and drew my attention to a marvellous portrait of Rachel Strong by the Russian artist Leon Bakst. Bakst was best known for his costume and set designs for the Ballets Russes, but he was also capable of delightful portraits such as the portrait of Rachel Strong. It was painted in 1924, the last year of his life. Although distance made it impossible to involve Sarah directly in the project, I knew immediately that I would like to create a set of images inspired by this painting. I have however moved the location of the photographs from central Europe to the Scottish Highlands.
Martin Vandersteen, 1957 (Arthur Andersen & Co (AA&Co)) – 1997 (Andersen Consulting), Keith Burgess, 1971 (AA&Co, Administrative Services) – 2000 (Andersen Consulting), Tim Forrest, 1967 (AA&Co Administrative Services) – 1999 (Andersen Consulting), Bill Barnard, 1965 (AA&Co) – 2000 (Andersen Consulting), Graham Reddish, 1960 (AA&Co) – 1996 (Andersen Consulting), Vincent Watts, 1963 (AA&Co) – 1997 (Andersen Consulting), David Kaye, 1962 (AA&Co) – 1990 (Andersen Consulting)
I started my working life in 1976 with Arthur Andersen & Co, Management Consultants, now Accenture, in London. At the time I was the 90th employee. I stayed thirty years, through three changes of name, and more than forty years later remain in regular contact with with many friends and colleagues from those days.
There is a group of people who were among the leaders of the firm in the UK when I joined, and with whom I am particularly pleased to remain in contact. They seemed unimaginably knowledgeable and experienced when I first met them, they were some of my first mentors in the firm and they have remained friends ever since. And so I thought it would be good to capture a photograph of them.
The story of the painter Philip de László (1869-1937) is a true rags to riches tale. Born in poverty in Budapest he was apprenticed to a photographer and studied art, gaining a place in the National Academy of Art before moving to Munich and Paris to further his studies. In Munich he met Lucy Guinness who he eventually married, against the wishes of her family. They has six children.
Seven years after their marriage the couple moved to London where he spent the rest of his life, building a very successful career as a society painter. His reputation and contacts were such that he was made a Member of the Victorian Order by Edward VII and ennobled by King Franz Joseph of Hungary. He is of course one of a long line of European artists who moved to Britain to build their careers.
One of his many portrait subjects was Edith Hope Iselin from New York, who he painted in London in 1930. That portrait was the inspiration for the portrait above. The dress was made by Suki Miles who also did the hair and make-up. The model is Ivory Flame.
A swagger portrait; commissioned by someone rich or famous to emphasize their status, importance etc. Achieved by large size of canvas, impressive background scenery, grand style of costume and artificial posture and expressions of persons depicted."
“When James asked me to sit for a Swagger portrait, my internal response was I'm not rich or famous according to worldly standards, but I do know that I have presence.
A portrait in the grand manner, stepping back a moment in time...
The moment I slipped into costume I became the Grand Dame of importance hosting her evening soirée. My body language, posture and manner became as graceful as the clothes I was in. It was luscious and fun.
The portraits were inspired by paintings from Sir Frank Bernard Dicksee 1912, and Giovanni Boldini. The period is such a beautiful era for women's fashion, with abundant playfulness, femininity, and so becoming for our feminine beings”.
I have long been intrigued by the 'grand manner' or 'swagger' portraits that were the height of fashion from the late Victorian period right through to the eve of the Second World War. Led in Britain by painters such as James Tissot, Sir John Singer Sargent, Philip de Laszlo and Sir John Lavery, they were portraits designed to establish or confirm social status and establishment position. They were also portraits that exuded power and confidence from both male and female sitters.
At a time when confidence is at a premium and female power requires constant reinforcement, it seemed appropriate to use the grand manner form to celebrate contemporary friends and colleagues.