Naughty James

Craig Cowling, aka Naughty James hails from Doncaster but having worked for some of the World’s biggest publications has his finger, according to his biography anyway, on ‘photography’s pulse’… Rob Che finds Craig maxin-n-relaxin in his London City digs and asks what makes him the (arrogant, opinionated and strangely likeable) man he is today…

So, you have your finger on the pulse… Who inspires you in portrait/people/band photography ?

My biggest inspirations are Helmut Newton & Guy Bourdin. They dominated and changed the fashion photograph for ever though the mid 50′s to the late 70′s, sadly they both met a premature end. Both of them produced images with such amazing narrative power, I was blown away looking through their work for the first time while I attended art school at Doncaster College, back when I was nineteen. The images were so strong and vivid, they pushed the boundries.

Two of my old tutors have also helped me and inspired me, Richard Browning, my tutor at Doncaster College. He let me off the leash and left me to do my own thing, rather than stick to the curriculum, and the other is Mark Lebon, my head of year and tutor at London College Of Fashion. The man is amazing, and i’m proud to call him a very close friend. I also enjoy the work of Perou, Terry Richardson, Jerry Hsu & Richard Kern…. there are far too many to list…

You must have made some good friends along the way – what’s your favourite shoot you’ve done ?

Tough one. I had most fun shooting the Klaxons, but that’s more to the fact I was on tour with them in their bus for three weeks and were all mates. My favourite shoot work wise would be a personal one, it’s some intimate portraits of my girlfriend sat in my old flat in Hackney. I love them, and I rarely like my own work.

Do you tend to research a band before you shoot them ?

I’ll just Google them, have a listen to their music, check out past shoots they have done. I’ve been pretty fortunate to have shot bands that I’m a fan of already though, it hasn’t been much of a problem in the past. There was one that was tricky, a DJ from New York I was shooting for a magazine out there called Big Shot.. at the time he was fairly underground and I couldn’t find a thing on him. It all turned out good though!

Here’s a Smash Hits question for you… If you could shoot anyone (band) – who would it be and why ?
There are two bands that i’d love to shoot. Superchunk & Explosions In The Sky, for the simple reason they are awesome!

The Rakes

What bores you about band photos you see? You must see some criminal shots…

Four blokes stood against a wall / in a toilet / looking “edgy” – yeah, cut it out already… erm, I actually shot the Rakes against a wall. ha. I don’t think there are any real crimes to commit when shooting bands… not dropping some off a bridge into the Thames is probably one of them! – There are a few bands that I’ve worked with that thought that their time was too good for me / the magazine I’ve been working for… you just get on with it though and keep smiling.

How do you react to constraints laid out by labels/bands?
I’ve never had any constraints laid out to me before really, other than them requesting to change a location of a shoot.. usually last minute too.

Any upcoming stuff we should know about…. ?

I’m currently on tour with the band “White Lies” who are set to be utterly huge, they reached number one in the UK album charts earlier this year. They have some amazing dates lined up, and hopefully if I behave myself I could be off to the states, Australia and Japan with them. fingers crossed!

Wow… How did that come about, are you a fan?

I got a call from Steve Warby, the head of universal records subsidery fiction, which is in turn a inprint of Polydor (it gets a bit confusing, right?). A friend I have there had recomended me to him after seeing similar things i’d done with the Klaxons (also on Polydor) and The Rakes.

Richard Reynolds
NEON Magazine

To be fair, I’d been given their album on pre realease a few months ago, and gave it a listen or two but forgot about it.. then one night while in the pub, I got an excited call from my friend in A&R at Universal screaming about how her band was Number one.. I gave them another chance, and I’m pretty hooked on them now.. any fan of Joy Division, Tears For Fears or Echo and the Bunnymen should give them a chance.

That sounds rubbish, I bet you’d rather be back in Hyde Park (Doncaster) ? no?
Will you do us a tour Diary with photos?

erm…. I miss my mam. No, seriously.. I do miss “the donx” from time to time, but London is certainly for me.. I’ve been here six years now (with a little break recently) and I can’t really imagine being anywhere else. I certainly wouldn’t have the career or opportunities I have & get sitting in DN1 all week. Everyone should give London a go before they get too old!

Of course I’ll share some photos with DBR, just as soon as I get clearance from the label !

NaughtyJames.com