Big Rocket are London based portrait photographers James & Will, who have been developing their unique brand of photography for the past 5 years. During their time together they have produced a continuing collection of projects that have a natural cohesion, and consequently the general ideas spanning their work have become increasingly refined.
Big Rocket’s large body of work illustrates the compulsive nature of Will and James as photographers; the organically-driven projects they take up are evidences of an artistic enthusiasm which is reflected in their portraits.
Their recent portraiture series ‘Form’ is a series of diptychs that looks at…
Big Rocket are London based portrait photographers James & Will, who have been developing their unique brand of photography for the past 5 years. During their time together they have produced a continuing collection of projects that have a natural cohesion, and consequently the general ideas spanning their work have become increasingly refined.
Big Rocket’s large body of work illustrates the compulsive nature of Will and James as photographers; the organically-driven projects they take up are evidences of an artistic enthusiasm which is reflected in their portraits.
Their recent portraiture series ‘Form’ is a series of diptychs that looks at how the human face changes through various simple processes. The ‘Form - Trim’ series, which subsequently won the ‘Best in Book’ portraiture award in the 2007 Creative Review Photography Annual, shows a person before and after a £6 haircut at a barber shop.
Other ‘before and after’ series’ include fake tanning, pop bands (such as The Hoosiers as seen here), fathers before and after news of their first born child, rugby (also seen here), driving test, sleep, drugs and plastic surgery. A compelling body of work, these images give us a unique insight into how a person’s facial expression is unknowingly affected by physical or emotional experiences.
Another ongoing project, which the duo have titled ‘Stand Here Please’, celebrates the various eccentricities and attendees of events, festivals, conventions and meetings in the UK. Inspired by writer George Santayana when he wrote “England is a paradise of individuality, eccentricity, anomalies and hobbies”, the portraits are always shot in an identical way – using a mobile studio that allows the sitters to be isolated from their surroundings and highlights, their look, costume or reason for attending.
Among the places visited by Big Rocket are; Crufts Dog Show, Erotica, European Body Building Championships, National Cat Club, Whitby Goth Festival, Twins Festival, Staffordshire Airborne weekend & Star Wars Convention, of which some of the portraits can be seen here.
In 2006 Big Rocket’s ‘A-Z’ project was exhibited at The Coningsby Gallery and The Association of Photographers Gallery, London. They chose one profession from each letter of the alphabet from the Greater London Yellow Pages to create an ‘A-Z’ of twenty six different portraits. Time Out described the work as “a London cultural must see”, and John McGregor (twice nominated for The Man Booker Prize in 2003 and 2006) wrote of their work, “They manage to capture the way all our identities are bound up in the work we do, and they capture the unassuming pride of people who are doing jobs they love”. In 2008 they exhibited the early stages of ‘Form’ at The Printspace, London. They are members of The Association of Photographers.
