The Creative Works of Shaun Bloodworth
I can’t remember the first time exactly that I became aware of Shaun’s work. I think it was either Plastician’s Rinse 06 mix CD or Skream’s first self-titled album, but immediately it struck me. I was in education at the time, and happened to also be chronicling an element of dubstep, albeit the smaller Plymouth scene in the South-West.
Shaun Bloodworth’s photographic career began back in 1989 as an editorial photographer, but in more recent years he was reknowned for his work together with art director and designer Stuart Hammersley of Give Up Art. The duo helped mould an ongoing identity for both Rinse and record label Tempa, while also creating promotional photography for a huge number of electronic musicians and DJ’s; Working on numerous projects together and striking up a brilliant creative partnership that lasted several years. Hammersley’s approach to art direction and design complimented Shaun’s work perfectly, allowing it the space to breath whilst also delivering the great type treatments and the important components of information needed on each cover.
A style that became instantly recognisable, Shaun’s work looked to be largely created with strobes, only using one or two lights to fight the sun and find that even balance across the faces of his subjects. The images he created almost have a cinematic look to them; as if they were a single still frame pulled from a further ongoing narrative. His series of album artworks for Rinse and Tempa are a prime example of how he had this style on lock, building a replicable process of working which could be used for multiple artists, and build up a large body of consistent work.
It’s an incredibly hard task to manage to capture someone’s identity within a single square frame, with only lighting and a background to play with, but Shaun pulled it off every time. It’s probably even more awkward for a DJ to have their face splashed across thousands of CD cases, especially if you’re more of the insular kind that prefers to let the music do the talking. I’m sure that anxiety soon subsided when you knew it was Shaun shooting your image so you’ll be guaranteed to have a powerful representation of yourself out there in the world.
I was only fortunate enough to get the chance to meet Shaun the one time, I used to correspond with him over email while at University as a way of learning from someone at the top of their game, and invited him along to our graduate show in London which he was kind enough to come along to. I was displaying a few portraits from my own Dubstep documentary project, alongside an enormous lifesize printout of a live gig photo I’d taken at a Rusko show. I’d also made a book, but cant remember if i got the chance to show him or not. He was always very encouraging and open to giving advice to someone learning the ropes, and the same sentiment seems to be shared online whenever I see people posting memories about him each year.
He sadly passed away back in 2016 through medical complications, but his work lives on in musical collections across the world. There’s currently an online Archive website being compiled to catalogue Shaun’s excellent body of work which Im hoping will be available to view at some point soon.
We’ve dug into out own personal collection and pulled out as many CD’s we could find that featured Shaun’s signature style. I’ve still got a few releases to track down to complete my collections, so the mission continues.
