Neil Buchan Grant 

Portrait, Travel and Unit Stills

Background

(Scottish b.1964) I found photography in my late teens initially within the pages of magazines like Amateur Photographer. I experimented for a few years, quickly acquiring a collection of cameras and lenses. As my interest in photography deepened I wanted to develop it further by going to Napier College (the main school of photography in Scotland, both then and today) but economic constraints prevented me. I learned an important lesson regarding fiscal rectitude and often wondered if my career could have advanced earlier had I not been hampered by debt. My career took off in a different direction eventually starting my own manufacturing business. Fortunately I rediscovered my passion for making pictures at the dawn of digital cameras (c. 2000). At that time I had the travel bug which provided me with no end of beauty to capture. After 5 years of developing my interest in travel photography, I won a commission to shoot the Italian Riviera for Insight Guides.  Then, rather late to the party at the age of 41, I found myself  working freelance as an editorial travel photographer with Insight Guides and Berlitz. My work there won me the BTPA prize, then later that year I won the prestigious AOP OPEN award. This led to working as a brand ambassador with OLYMPUS who commissioned me to make fashion portraits in New York, Portugal, Hungary and Cuba.  I then approached tour operator KUONI with a view to developing a series of 'Phototours' which I designed as a more accessible style of enhanced photography workshop with a distinct bias towards making street portraits. After running these tours over 5 years in Russia, Vietnam, Cambodia and India along with other self branded workshops in Germany, Romania and Italy, my interest in drama led me to start working with theatre groups. Then, after a period of re-training, I started working on film sets shooting unit stills for feature films, BFI short films and local student films

Testimonials

Quote (unit stills) “Neil understands the bigger picture - he knows which scenes/actions have the best marketing potential. With his clear communication, he worked seamlessly in the background and captured superb stills”...Matthew Steggles producer of Distressing Images (Blue Cedar Productions)

Quote (unit stills) "Perfection! - We were filming all over London for one month. Neil made perfect photos, all of them impeccable, interesting, beautiful and useful for us. I couldn’t have asked for someone better"...Elena Conte producer of Tales of Babylon (Ealing Productions)

Quote  ("Behind the Catwalk" solo exhibition)  “Great to see a gently lit unobtrusive approach to fashion, illustrating the back stage scene so eloquently…”.......Ian Berry, Magnum Photos 

Location: The Cotswolds offer great access to London and I'm very happy to work anywhere.

Photographic Influences: Lillian Bassman, Saul Leiter, Irving Penn, Salgado, Helmut Newton, W Eugene Smith, Peter Lindbergh, Steve McCurry, Tim Flach

Terms: My day rate remains flexible depending on the project and I sometimes work for selected charities but in general, I do not work for free