Portraits of Rodney Charles, a Germany-based, American & British screenwriter, producer, and actor with a Grenadian background.
I met Rodney at a bespoke tailor in London who were throwing a party at their establishment to launch a new service, for whom I had photographed the campaign. He looked like an interesting chap so I introduced myself and asked if I could take his portrait. He quizzically looked at me, asked why and then suggested we should meet for a chat and get to know each other before agreeing.
A week, so or, later we caught up over a coffee and got to know each other; Rodney explained his British roots and how he had modelled alongside Tyson Beckford, been photo’d by Bruce Weber, and appeared in Ralph Lauren campaigns while I offered my mixed race and service background. Indeed, it was in response to this that Rodney brought to my attention that I seemed to have been destined to be a photographer as I have always been an observer; an observer and student of languages and cultures, a trained observer in the Army and now, finally, observing fashion and people and capturing what I saw with a camera. The conversation was, in essence, an informal job interview; who was I, was I competent enough to trust to take his portrait, what did I know of my fashion history, and did he like me to want to spend time with me in front of my camera?
Ultimately Rodney Charles kindly agreed to a portrait session, and to have a variety of images taken to suit his various needs as screenwriter, producer, and actor respectively as each of these different hats, so to speak, required both different style and styled, imagery. Having passed Rodney’s vetting procedure and spent time building a relationship previously, the shoot itself was all business. There was no need for my normal introductory 20 minutes chit chat, it had already taken place.
