NEW STATESMAN - THE ART OF PORTRAITURE

Johnny Marr: Richard Goodall Gallery, Northern Quarter Manchester, 2011. Appears in the piece in New Statesman

I was contacted recently by the New Statesman to do an interview on my approach to portraiture. I found this was interesting subject (to me at least!) as I'd never really thought about how things come together - like alot of things we all do - we feel our way.

Here's an extract courtesy of New Statesman.

By Rob Pollard

William Ellis is best known for documenting jazz. Based in Manchester, his photography has been exhibited internationally, including twice at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City and extensively at galleries and festivals throughout the UK. He is one of the world's leading photographers in his field.

His portraits, I think, are among his finest work. What does he think is the essence of a portrait? "It's peculiar for me to try and answer that question. A portrait can be more than memorable, it can be definitive. The face is a theatre -- drama, emotion and expression happening right there. A good portrait gets inside, behind the safety curtain. All the planning and the thought about how a portrait should be set up just provides a framework, but that's all it is. It's the intimacy and intensity during the shoot that makes it work."

Complete article on the New Statesman site.