Sonic Editions

Andrew Cotterill is a British music photographer who has gone from shooting Public Enemy’s Chuck D to led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant. Beginning his career in the 80’s club and warehouse-party scene, Cotterill has gone on to shoot Arctic Monkeys back in 2006, for the prestigious cover of Mojo Magazine. Sonic Editions sat down with Andrew Cotterill to gain insight into his career and passion for photography. Read on below for the full interview....

SE: When did you know photography was your passion?

AC: I feel in love with photography from secondary school. It was part of my art class interestingly.

SE: Do you have a favourite camera to shoot with?

AC: Over the years of doing this I’ve had many favourite cameras to use. However i would say it was my Hasselblad 500cm really.

SE: You’ve shot some major names in music and cinema, what/who has been your favourite shoot so far and why?

AC: There are so many memorable moments but I had an amazing time meeting and shooting Daniel Day Lewis. We had a great conversation talking about how difficult it is to be personally photographed one on one compared to a packed film set.

SE: What inspires you?

AC: What inspires me is to still have a passion for meeting and connecting with the people i'm about to shoot in any field. Also music inspires me.

SE: How do you build trust with your subject?

AC: Its different with each individual but i feel when people know you are there to represent them well and your focus is honest and professional they feel at ease. No time waisting is key too. I’ve luckily had very few difficult experiences in this department.

SE: Are you following any other photographers at the moment?

AC: I like many different photographers but tend not to over follow as i think its a little distracting to my own work. I use to buy lots of magazines when i was younger and look at amazing work from great photographers but it stifled my own growth and personal positivity.

SE: What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into photography?

AC: The advice i would give if they wanted to do this for a living would be that, you really have to understand your going into an area that needs total focus and concentration to be in a working situation. Also keep shooting and expose your pictures to people as you defiantly get better the more you shoot.

SE: Is there anyone you haven't yet photographed who you would love to?

AC: I would love to meet and photograph the actor Christopher Walken... Lets hope it happens one day soon!

SE: And finally out of all your photos, which one is your favourite and why?

AC: Again this is a very difficult thing for me to do but I’ll go with a Keith Flint image i took at V Festival over ten years ago. He’s presence and attitude at this moment totally defined him. I love this image and so did Keith.

Head on over to Andrew Cotterill's gallery now!