Photographer Ben Stockley takes over our recommends column today after an epic couple of months that saw him welcome into the world his daughter Mia Stockley, just three weeks and five days ago ! He has also somehow managed to find the time to move in to a new studio in Bow, sharing a large art complex, which was once home to the Private Eye and Socialist Worker printers, with a group of Photographers, Sculptures and Painters.
He has been to France and back shooting for Heineken, shot an editorial story for Wallpaper magazine and is in the middle of a series of personal projects including a film on British seasides. Shooting everything on traditional film and touring the likes of Blackpool, Skegness and Lancashire, the film deals with the faded grandeur of the past and in true Ben Stockley style he shoots these often forlorn places by focusing on the inherent beauty of them, a positive and nostalgic look at the past and British heritage.
With six other jobs on the go currently, there seems to be a lot of juggling going on in Ben’s life at the moment. Despite all of this, below Ben takes some time out of his day to give us an insight into the wonderful work of Tyrone Lebon. Represented by MAP, Tyrone is a photographer Ben has long admired and has shared a photographic lab with for the last few years.
Tyrone Lebon is a lovely, quiet, gentle and very tall chap whose work is based mainly in the world of fashion and art. We met a few years ago in the film lab we both share. We both work in traditional and digital formats but for all our traditional film work we use this bespoke lab in East London. It’s one of the very few traditional photographic labs left and there is a great sense of community, with people coming and going all the time working on interesting projects.
Tyrone Lebon : Stussy
Tyrone Lebon : Supreme
I first met Tyrone when he had just been shooting a music video called Before I Move Off. It was part of a commission to shoot the album artwork and all 3 video releases for Mount Kimbie's debut album 'Crooks and Lovers'. Before I Move Off is essentially a flip book shot with thousands of stills which documented Tyrone's adventures between New York, Shanghai, LA, London, Tokyo and Bangkok. The images are of all these journeys he took in those countries and continents, all the people he met and the places he saw.
Before I Move Off is a very beautiful, eclectic and totally individual piece of work. Tyrone has a really strong sense of identity that runs through all his work, and as soon as I saw it I could see it was something very special. Tyrone is a guy who is constantly going in lots of directions but keeps his voice strong throughout all of it. Around this same time he created a stunning series of portraits called Nothing Lasts Forever. It documents all his friends round at his studio in a series of portraits and close up details. He was printing that work at the lab around the same time as the music video. It's very beautiful work.
Tyrone Lebon : Nothing Lasts Forever
Tyrone Lebon : Nothing Lasts Forever
I also saw a talk by Tyrone’s Dad, the fashion photographer Mark Lebon, a couple of weeks ago at the ICA, in conversation with writer Neal Brown. Tyrone has been working on a film which features his Dad called Reely and Truly. It is a film about a selection of photographers including Jason Evans, Petra Collins, Juergen Teller, Mario Sorrenti, Jack Webb and Jill Freedman. This 30 minute featured short film below is part of this ongoing Reely and Truly project which will culminate in a book of photographs, texts and films about the practice of over 30 contemporary photographers. It gives a great insight into these brilliant and very different photographers and how they work.
Tyrone also runs a great community called DoBeDo. It includes amongst others photographers Nigel Shafran, Clare Shilland, David Sims, Jason Evans, Harley Weir, Nigel Shafran, Will Robson Scott, Naima Karlsson and Jamie Hawkesworth. It’s a lovely collective he started which regularly posts interesting current work from this select group of his friends and colleagues. Tyrone Lebon is a very talented photographer, a lovely guy and I am a big fan of his work. His work is fascinating and I highly recommend him.
Tyrone Lebon : i-D