Chris Floyd - National Lottery / National Portrait Gallery


Chris was commissioned by THE NATIONAL LOTTERY to photograph 13 'unheralded champions of the arts sector', who have all undertaken wonderful creative projects throughout the pandemic to keep the spirit of their communities alive...

These awesome projects are funded by the massive £30million raised each week for good causes by National Lottery players.

Featured here are just a handful of the inspiring creators and founders from projects such as OPEN BOOK in Scotland where Liz Treacher hosts creative writing sessions to combat loneliness; Vic Brown in Tamworth whose creative arts project NEW URBAN ERA has launched a new online platform for beatboxers, street artists, breakdancers and schools to collaborate during the pandemic; and Maria Connolly, founder of 1 ELEVEN THEATRE in Belfast who performs socially distanced theatre (as Judy Garland, Bette Midler and Marilyn Monroe) to elderly people with dementia. You can read more inspiring stories here.

The portraits are currently being exhibited at eight galleries around the UK including IKON, the MAC Belfast, the PHOTOGRAPHERS' GALLERY, BFI Southbank and the NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, London here.

Chris Floyd - Idler / Vic Reeves

Chris shoots Vic Reeves at his home studio in Kent for The Idler Magazine.

"Although when you're in his home studio you don't call him Vic. You call him Jim because Jim's his real name. Jim Moir, like Goya".

Jim has just produced a new book called Vic Reeves Art Book, a sumptuous compendium of his drawings and paintings from the last two or three years.

Full article here. The book is available from all good bookshops.

Chris Floyd - Stylist / Sian Clifford, Sharon Horgan and Waad al-Kateab

A few months ago CHRIS FLOYD captured portraits of SIAN CLIFFORD, SHARON HORGAN and WAAD AL KATEAB for the STYLIST / REMARKABLE WOMEN AWARDS.

CHRIS spent a memorable afternoon on shoot having “a complete laugh with this lady and her massive cake!”… aka SHARON HORGAN, actor and Bafta-winning writer behind razor sharp comedies such as Catastrophe, Motherland and Divorce.

SIAN CLIFFORD, aka Fleabag’s sister Claire, recently played Diana Ingram in ‘Quiz’, the terrific 3-parter on ITV.

For five years WAAD AL-KATEAB filmed the conflict in the Syrian city of Aleppo for her feature documentary ‘FOR SAMA’ which has received numerous awards including the Prix L’Œil d’Or for Best Documentary at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the SXSW Film Festival, and the Special Jury Prize for International Feature Documentary at the Hot Docs Festival. It is a deeply powerful film and “a rare first hand account of war, from a strictly female perspective”.

Chris Floyd - Men's Health - Fighting Spirit

For a story in the May issue of MEN'S HEALTH, CHRIS FLOYD was commissioned to photograph several British servicemen who have all endured PTSD in one form or another.

"How do you fight an enemy you can't see? One that can infiltrate every base, aircraft carrier and submarine and strike down a teenage cadet in the safety of his barracks yet is just as able to lie in wait for months, or even years, before dealing a fatal blow, long after a soldier has exited the theatre of war and even the military itself? Between 2014 and 2018, hostile action accounted for the deaths of 2 servicemen. Over the same period, at least 49 UK service personnel died as a result of suicide.”

Chris Floyd - Archive

Amazing shots from Chris's archive accompanied by wonderful tales of his encounters with a veritable "Who's Who" of sitters.. from Liam and Noel Gallagher of the newly formed band Oasis in 1994 to the sun-baked rooftops of Cannes with Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchette, Richard Ashcroft in Vegas, Oliver Reed in Minsk, David Hockney, David Bowie, Debbie Harry, Paul McCartney, Naomi Watts, Robert De Niro, David Attenborough and many more..

Follow him here: https://www.instagram.com/chrisfloydarchive/

Chris Floyd - Patrick Hutchinson for Men's Health

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Photographed for Men’s Health, Patrick Hutchinson, icon of the midsummer BLM protests in London. He and his friends, Chris Otokito, Jamaine Facey, Pierre Noah and Lee Russell, a group of martial arts practitioners and security professionals, attended the demonstration with a shared purpose; to keep the peace. But when Patrick was snapped rescuing a Black Lives Matter counter protester, the white man hoisted over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift, surrounded by a mob, his life changed instantly and irrevocably.
From left to right in the second picture below: Chris, Lee, Pierre, Patrick (standing), Jamaine (seated)
A short version of Paul Wilson’s interview with the five men can be read here. The full interview will feature in the September issue.

 

Chris Floyd - Men's Health - PPE

CHRIS FLOYD shoots on location during lockdown for MEN’S HEALTH for a feature on 3 British manufacturers who have repurposed their production lines to create items of PPE for the NHS during the Covid 19 crisis.

COMMUNITY CLOTHING in Blackburn, Lancashire, who usually manufacture beautifully made items of affordable, sustainable and ethical men’s and women’s clothing turned their business towards making urgently needed NHS scrubs.

STAEGER CLEAR in Coventry switched from making things like shirt collar stiffeners and Easter egg cases to making a face visor of their own design.

INTERFLEX in Nottingham had also halted all their normal plastic packaging work and were producing disposable plastic aprons at a phenomenal rate.

A staggering and inspirational contribution from all 3 companies, especially as their undertakings were in the face of significant bureaucratic and logistical challenges. WE SALUTE YOU!

For inspiration, Chris took the 1950s photography of the great Maurice Broomfield, who so beautifully documented the last golden age of British manufacturing. “I’ve loved Broomfield’s work for a long time and this seemed like the obvious opportunity to pay tribute to it.”

Chris Floyd - Stylist / Shauna Coxsey

HANGING IN THERE...
CHRIS FLOYD photographs OLYMPIC climbing hopeful SHAUNA COXSEY for the 500th issue of STYLIST MAGAZINE.

"A few weeks ago I travelled up to Sheffield on a freezing cold morning to spend the day inside a building made entirely of chipboard and leftover bits of furniture adornment from the Memphis Milano design movement. Inside we were thrilled by the sight of Shauna Coxsey, in the finest SS20 fashions, as she clambered and scampered over every surface of the chipboard palace in this shoot for the 500th issue of Stylist Magazine."

Styling by Helen Atkin.