Exploring the Portfolio of Frank John a London Celebrity Photographer for Female Celebrities

Female Celebrity Portfolio

Charli XCX

Frank John is a London Celebrity Photographer specialising in Female Celebrities, trying to capture their, beauty, style and fashion and the very essence of what they are all about in often difficult situations and in split second moments. It’s a highly challenging pursuit but the rewards can be immense. I would say it was “A Calling” from the very first event, I knew I would be focusing more on the women rather than the male stars, it was like night and day. The rest as they say is history!

All photos in this Portfolio are Registered and Protected with the DMCA. QR Code at end of article

Sandra Bullock

Being a London Celebrity Photographer you will be covering a broad spectrum of scenarios where celebrities will be present including promotional events of all shapes and sizes, red carpet events such as awards and film premieres, TV and Radio Station promo run arrivals, Hotel arrival and Departures, Parties, Balls, Fund Raisers and general sightings in and around the London area. The list is endless. London Fashion Week is another.

Ella Eyre

The stars may be glammed up like Ella  here or maybe just smart and casual but whatever situation they are in and whatever they are wearing especially the female stars, they are always being watched by the masses as they are at the very forefront of the fashion scene.

When photographing female celebrities the focus will be on the look, the hair, the fabric, the colours, the makeup, the lipstick right down to the nails and the clutch, even the pose and of course the shoes. Full length shots were undertaken but most of the time it was portrait shots or just above the knee.

Carrie Underwood

Getting those more intimate shots as a London Celebrity Photographer and some sort of connection that draws the viewer into the photo and creating a situation as if you are right there within feet of these people. Intense moments I would say.

Candid photography was another speciality, capturing those non posed or quirky moments that crop up from time to time in various situations where celebrities are being photographed. Sometimes they are done on purpose or more staged, others are just off the cuff and random, either way they give a further insight into the celebrity concerned, they are people just like everybody else.

Rita Ora

Portfolio photos featured here with a main heading photograph and a clickable link to the main gallery that features 20 or so further photos. Click on thumb for larger size and click on link for photo within a blog post giving further details and information on the photo including image ref, date and location.

Never did count the number of stars that were met as a London Celebrity Photographer but it was certainly in the region of a thousand, possibly more. This portfolio is quite simply a tribute to the women concerned.

Maria Sharapova

Celebrity Editorial by Frank John

Editorial photography is more focused on story whereas Commercial photography is more focused on Brand. The definition of Editorial Photography according to Format the photography portfolio people is:

Editorial photography are images that appear alongside the text in print or online publications, which are created to help tell a story or support the narrative in the text, with a focus on creating a specific mood or tone for the piece

Editorial photos featuring Celebrities will tend to be more full length in nature and will have the star concerned usually from head to toe and a backdrop clearly visible hinting at the location where they are or the event that they are attending or it may be just a backdrop of screaming fans in the background. Either way the photos objective is to tell a story.

Jena Malone

Sometimes they may be portrait or head shots but the background will always be visible and the context will be clearly seen . These style of photos are more photo journalistic in nature and have the purpose of telling a story just like Maria Sharapova pictured opposite arriving at the WTA Pre Wimbledon Party held in Kensington in Central London. She is most certainly the subject but the full length nature of the photo shot at a more wide angle setting sucks in more of the background giving more context with the crowds and event staff clearly visible.

The trick is to get the star to pop out of the frame and not be overwhelmed by the background normally achieved by either using bokeh to slightly blur the background or selective lighting with the flash so that the star pops and the background is subdued but still visible but doesn’t overwhelm the star concerned.

Can this be done with a single photo, judging by the photo of Maria Sharapova above, yes a single image can tell a story but many editorial photos will be in series featuring a number of photos. The Maria photo opposite is the final photo taken where she posed for the camera, a number of photos were taken before of her getting out of the car and walking to get to this position, again editorial and sequential in nature.

Celebrity Portraits by Frank John

Tulisa Contostavlos

Whereas Celebrity Editorial Photos are designed to showcase a particular person as the subject with some sort of context to give the photo some story or narrative, Portrait Photography is about solely capturing the person concerned and the background is merely supportive and non story telling in nature. These photos are more intense in nature and an area that I seemed to excel in.

The definition of Editorial Photography according to Format the photography portfolio people is:

Portrait photography, also referred to as portraiture, is a type of photography in which the subject is one or more people and the aim is to convey something about the subject’s identity, personality, or story.

Anna Kendrick

In connection with Female Celebrities and with myself being the London Celebrity Photographer in a situation where I was taking a portrait photograph it would always be to capture the very essence of what that person was all about, the inner self….. if it can be done and capture not just their physical appearance and features and attributes but also their personality.

The photo of Tulisa Contostavlos at the Sony Academy Music Awards held in Mayfair Central London is a good example of a portrait photo study, taken at just below the waist up, it captures her taste in clothes, her hair, her make up, her expression and with an added air of mystery of slightly looking away from the camera. This was taken in the golden hour at the entrance of the event just as the sun was setting hence the golden glow.

This Tulisa photo above was taken as can be seen amidst a crowd of people and selective lighting has reduced the prominence of the people in the background and she is popping out but not obviously so. If you have seen Tulisa elsewhere in any shape or form then this is her right here in this photo, that’s what she is all about.

Jacqueline Jossa

All of these style of photos were taken with manual flash to create a bokeh effect not with lens aperture but with flash lighting instead to give the scene a more studio look rather than an evenly exposed style photo that looks more IPhone snapshot in nature. I used an old film flash to achieve these moody looks.

Capturing these sort of photos requires getting up close and personal, a term that is used often on this portfolio website. Close enough to get these intimate sort of moments but they still look comfortable with that closeness thing going on. You are invading their space but with their permission. Taking a photo like this with a telephoto but say 20m down the road is never the same…it lacks the intimacy even if it gives the appearance of closeness.

Celebrity Candid by Frank John

Jemima Khan

Another one of my specialisms is Celebrity Candids. Celebrities doing something interesting, unusual, or something quirky or out of the ordinary. Some of these photos were taken at distance, other times they can be very close in a more portrait style.

The definition of Candid Photography according to Wikipedia is:

Candid photography is photography captured without creating a posed appearance. This style is also called spontaneous photography or snap shooting. Candid photography captures natural expressions and moments that might not be possible to reproduce in a studio or posed photo shoot. This style of photography is most often used to capture people in their natural state without them noticing the camera

Nicole Scherzinger

Using that definition the photo above of Nicole Scherzinger at the Pride of Britain Awards in Central London this photo is not candid but in the celebrity world they are always being photographed and are always aware of cameras around them so the Candid term in connection with Celebrities is a bit more fluid in nature.

These sort of photos are again just fleeting moments, you never know when thy are going to turn up, are never asked for so yes technically speaking are unposed but Nicole here is aware of me and the camera and is just doing something out of the ordinary that you wouldn’t get whilst posing in front of a barrage of photographers on the red carpet.

Again just like Portrait Photos they say something about the person being photographed, their personality and showing another side of themselves that people don’t normally see. Other examples are Celebrities turning up at Halloween Parties in fancy dress, again not their normal appearance, acting a bit strange, doing odd things or just quirky moments that are gone in a nano second but can be captured in a fraction of a second with the right fast camera.

Vanessa White

As a London Celebrity Photographer they are fun to capture, unpredictable in nature and add a little bit of spice to a Female Celebrity Portfolio.

Female Fashion and Beauty is another area that was a logical progression from photographing female celebrities and their red carpet fashion looks but taken to a more down to earth level on the streets of London either candid via Street Style or posed Fashion and Beauty normally taken at London Fashion Week.

Street Style by Frank John

Vaping Fashionista

A totally different world as far removed from the glitz, glamour and bright lights of the Entertainment and Showbiz World and straight into the grit and urban vibe of the streets of London and tracking down Fashionistas at the very cutting edge of London Street style. No red carpets here!

This was my anti dote to the hectic schedule of photographing female stars, no pressures, no deadlines, no wrestling matches with other photographers, no competition, no screaming fans getting in the way……just me…a camera……the streets of London…..and see what happens.

If you get something, all well and good, if you get nothing….no problem there is always another day. Not so with Celebrity photography….if you don’t get the shot it’s gone for good.

A selection of photos in this Portfolio Gallery capturing ordinary women on the streets of London, rocking their look.

The vaping woman above (no name unposed not a model) was spotted on Commercial Street in the trendy area of Shoreditch in Central London. Taken with a telephoto lens with some scaffolding, vehicles, bike and a bollard left in the frame on purpose to give it a more everyday urban feel and as far removed from the red carpet as you can get.

Smoking Fashionista

This photo is above the knee which I did a lot with the Female Celebrities, other street style photos were taken as head shots focusing more on Female Beauty and others were Portraits or Full Length depending on the woman being photographed and what the end objective was in photographic terms. The style I would say is slightly Vogue with a dash of Urban and Street thrown into the mix.

Never used any models, all are just candid moments, some may have seen the camera but just carried on with their day regardless. Some did see the camera and thought you were just a street photographer.

For me it wasn’t just about the clothes they were wearing, the shades, the beauty and everything else as in the look, it was also a study of people and how they are living their lives in a modern day city urban environment so that element is very strong in all of my Street Style Photos with the emphasis being more on the women and “the street” rather than the Style. You could say Street Photography but with a Fashion bias.

Fashion and Beauty by Frank John

Moscow Fashionista LFW

A portfolio of photos that are definetly posed in nature, a lot taken at London Fashion Week which is a mecca for fashionistas, fashion bloggers, female stars and the fashion elite. The other major fashion events around the globe were New York Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week

London Fashion Week was a magnet for the female stars and most of my time was spent photographing them doing the arrivals and departure paparazzi style photo shoots BUT in between whilst waiting for these female stars to arrive I would photograph the fashionistas who were non celebrities who were to be honest equally as glamorous.

Most of the fashion photographers back then were using Canon 5dii or the newly emerged Canon 5diii with the huge 50mm f1.2 L lens and were very timid in comparison to the paparazzi photo journalist style of photographer who can be incredibly aggressive.

Fedora Fashionista LFW

An example of the sort of photos taken is opposite with this Fashionista from Moscow (can’t remember her name Katia maybe) she was outshining some of the female celebrities turning up. Just a posed photo taken in the gardens of Golden Square in Soho Central London taken with a vintage prime lens and as far as I can see no flash at all just used natural light.

She asked me how do you want me to pose, I said just be yourself and show yourself that reflects who you are. She came up with this!

A complete departure from the previous Portfolio Gallery of Street Style photos which are more candid in nature but these photos are still taken in London with plenty of city/urban context but the main focus is always the woman concerned.

Most Fashion Photographers are/were heavily into the bokeh thing but I went in the other direction and made the backgrounds more prominent but not so prominent that the woman concerned was being dominated by the background, the woman was always in charge in the scene.

London Fashion Week has two events a year the S/S event called Spring/Summer held in September and the A/W called Autumn/Winter held normally in February. The events are held at various Iconic locations in London including Goldsmiths Hall, Somerset House and many others.

This article originally appeared on Frank John London