MuchLoved the book!!!

Mark | February 27, 2013 - 4:11 pm

 

I am very excited to announce that I have signed a publishing deal for my MuchlLoved project.

MuchLoved will be published by Abrams on Oct 29th 2013. It will be a full 4 colour hardback book containing 60 photographs along with stories and memories from their owners. ISNB:  978-1-4197-1012-4

I have been very busy photographing lots of new amazing looking loved to bits teddies and other soft toys. I have been inundated with possible candidates with some being FedEx’d from America and Europe. Though to be honest, I’ve had loads of enquiries from around the world, but once they realise they would have to send their special little friend, most won’t do it.

Abrams are America’s preeminent illustrated book publishers, who have published many of the most amazing photographic books, including Richard Avedon’s classic, Into the American West.  We are still going back and forward with the cover and text etc, but here’s a possible cover.

 

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Terry O’Neill

Mark | January 31, 2013 - 2:42 pm

It was an honour to photograph the legendary photographer Terry O’Neill. Terry has photographed everyone from Winston Churchill to Daniel Craig in a career spanning over 50 years. Like a lot of people, me included, he hates having his photograph taken, but he gracefully submitted. He told me his favourite subject (and friend) was Frank Sinatra and his least favourite shoot was with Steve McQueen, who wasn’t a happy bunny that particular day.

legendary photographer Terry O'Neill

Terry O’Neill photographed by Mark Nixon

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A shoot with Kathryn Thomas

Mark | January 16, 2013 - 1:17 pm

This was a cover shoot for Weekend magazine. Kathryn arrived with her hair and make-up already done and looked stunning. She has the most amazingly clear eyes, the whites of her eyes are completely white, no bloodshot veins or yellowing as you’ll find with with almost everyone, apart from babies and very young children.

She was a pleasure to shoot, looked different in all the shots and was very relaxed in front of the camera. I look forward to working with her again.

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Major feature in German View Magazine

Mark | January 10, 2013 - 4:40 pm

View Magazine in Germany, which is a subsidiary of Stern Magazine,  have just published a major feature on my MuchLoved project. Spread over 7 pages and a quarter of the front cover.

Originally they asked if the teddy owners could send a photo of themselves, but I thought it would look much better if I brought them into the studio and photographed them with the same background as I used for the teddy bears. They liked this idea and so I began calling everyone.

At the first shoot, with Shane & Bobo, I was struck by how small Bobo was. I had remembered him being much larger, but since the original shoot was about 1.5 years ago I had forgotten. So, I decided at that point to photograph the owners with their teddies so you could get an idea of the scale and also get a feeling of the relationship between owner and teddy.

In the end, they printed the people very small, but I think you still get the idea.

 

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MuchLoved goes viral

Mark | November 27, 2012 - 7:27 pm

Update 12th Feb 2013. Today Muchloved has just gone over 4 million hits!

Update 14th Dec 2012. Today MuchLoved has just gone over 3 million hits!

What an amazing 10 days this has been. I have had 1.5 million hits on my website in the last 10 days!

My MuchLoved exhibition has been featured on sites and blogs across the world. On one day alone there were 6,500 unique visitors!

From Iceland to Venezuela, China to Peru, it’s just crazy.

It’s been a real insight into how the web works. First www.petapixel.com  ”the coolest photoblog on the web” featured it, that was then picked up by www.buzzfeed.com a big blogsite and that was it, off it went and it’s still going.

Some sites and blogs asked permission, which I was more than happy to give,  but most just took it from either mine or another site, sometimes writing their own text, others just copying the text too. Some Chinese sites even put their own watermark on the images, to stop other sites taking “their” images.

Normally, I would control the use of my images as much as anyone can these days, but with this project, I wanted it to be seen by as many people as possible and as long as someone isn’t using it commercially I am happy for it to go as far and wide as possible.

Some of the Google translations are hilarious too. “each only broken rotten bear doll because over many years received his master deep love that they are so really a very strange the terror I actually still warm!” and ”They may look ugly to our eyes , but each is very loved by his owner, he adds”.  Actually I didn’t say that, because they never asked

The exhibition in my studio finishes on Sat (1st Dec) and probably 200 people have come in to see it, but there are thousands and thousands of people all over the world looking at it, loving it, commenting on it, sharing it.

Click on a thumbnail to view all these sites.

 

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First and Last cover shoot for Dubliner Magazine.

Mark | July 26, 2012 - 5:14 pm

 

This was my very first shoot for Dubliner magazine and I thought it could be the start of something beautiful, as they were up for spending some time to make a good cover. But along with it’s release today is the message that it’s the last issue! Damn shame.

As far as the shoot itself went, this was a difficult one for a number of reasons.

For a start, I couldn’t quite figure out in my head how I was going to create the final composition of 3 comedians and 3 “strippers” without it looking too crowded or a complete mess.

The club is on a street where there is absolutely nowhere to pull in and park, the only nearby place was blocked off for a concert, I double parked there to unload and got away with it.

The “stripper pole” I had been told was there, of course wasn’t! Yes, there was a pole, in a tight corner, outside, with direct sun and half a rooftop in the background, with enough roof for maybe 2 people and nowhere to shoot from. Not exactly the club vibe I had pictured in my head. So I went looking.

There was another crew shooting an ad downstairs in the actual club and they had another area for changing. Unusually, the girl with the clipboard was really nice and said we could shoot in the side they were changing in. So, while I set up lights, the Dead Cat Bounce boys went looking for a suitable pole. They came back with a builders rusty pole, which I covered in tinfoil and they held in place throughout the shoot, as if it was attached to the ceiling.( I photoshopped in a fake ceiling bracket afterwards)

The composition took a while to figure out, but we got there in the end, both the DCB lads and the Assets models were very patient and Katie from the Dubliner was a great help in reassuring the girls that they looked fab and in offering suggestions (not usually a good thing).

So I’m sorry to see it go. It’s out today only, free with the Evening Herald, so get yourself a copy if you can, it’s the final issue.

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Sex Cymbal

Mark | February 8, 2012 - 11:31 am

Who is that masked man?

Why it’s the one and only Des Bishop! Taken at a recent shoot for Des to promote his new tour, tentatively titled Des Bishop Bangs!

Des is a wonderful subject to photograph. He is game for anything because he understands the power of a strong image. Here are some of the other images we have created over the last couple of years.

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The Coronas

Mark | November 10, 2011 - 12:16 pm

Click on an thumbnail to view images

My third shoot with The Coronas and I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with them that I hadn’t already done. The good thing is we are all more comfortable with each other, which makes for a more relaxed atmosphere, which in turn means you can try things that might not work, rather than sticking to what you know will work.

Hot Press wanted to feature Danny more in the cover shot, as a strong single person shot will always look better on the cover than 4 or 5 equally sized people in a band. I visualised exactly what would eventually end up as the cover and I’m very pleased and surprised how well it worked! Danny is the main focus, but the rest of the band still feature. the guitar slung to the side, with the hands gunslinger style and the diagonal of the strap add a tension and dynamic to the image.

After that, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I remembered I had bought a ringflash that I’d never used, so I decided to see if I could use that in a creative way. God help them , the ringflash is blinding and I’m sure they walked around for the rest of the day with a black circle in the centre of their eyes every time they blinked.

The last shot was a bonus. The band were leaving, Danny was the last in line. He’d put on his coat and pulled his hood up and I just had to stop him and shoot him like that.

Lovely bunch of lads, they’re playing 5 nights in The Olympia at Christmas and promised me a box if I want to go. Not sure if they were serious or if the management will be so obliging, 

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The Apprentice comes to Mark Nixon I STUDIO

Mark | October 26, 2011 - 4:03 pm

photo courtesy TV3

The apprentice came to my studio recently to film a task. This episode airs next Monday 31st Oct at 9pm on TV3, Halloween night!

As soon as the episode airs next Monday, I can tell you all about what happened and show you some images, one in particluar, I really like. It was great fun to be involved and a real insight into the whole process.

Stay tuned!

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Meet Uncle Bob, or Grandmaster Howard to you!

Mark | October 10, 2011 - 4:18 pm

Click on image to see more

This is Bob Howard (72), my wife’s uncle and he’s just back from North Korea where he was promoted to “Grandmaster” 9th Dan Black Belt in Taekwon-Do. He is one of only 8 people in the world at this level and the only one in Europe. He asked me if I could take a few photos of him for the press release. How could I refuse!

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