Known for her striking black and white images, Zoë Law has carved out a career photographing celebrities and cultural icons. This month 100 of her photographs are coming to the National Portrait Gallery
Words: Will Moffitt
“It was the third shot. I knew I’d got it”, photographer Zoë Law tells me, recalling a shoot she did with Nicholas Cullinan, formerly director of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) and now at the British Museum. That shot in question – featuring a seated and sharp suited Cullinan set against a black mottled background – was conceived during a light test, but Law knew it was the one.
“That's something I learned from being a makeup artist,” she says. “I'd work with hundreds of photographers that could spend hours and hours and hours on one shot. We'd already seen that [they] nailed it two hours ago.”
The story strikes a chord not only because it reveals the razor-sharp eye Law has acquired through her years of watching others take photos, but there’s a symmetry here too. This month more than 100 of her striking black and white snaps will be displayed at the NPG as part of her Legends series, honouring people who she feels “embody passion, dedication and resilience”. It was Cullinan who she approached to revive the series at the NPG after it was curtailed by the pandemic in 2020, and the rest, as Law says: “is history.”
Those monochromatic images will honour and encapsulate faces and personalities from the worlds of fashion, art, sports, business and entertainment, unifying figures as disparate as the deceased World Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton, British-Canadian actress Kim Cattrall and the UK Black Pride co-founder Lady Phyll. At first glance you might struggle to connect a group of people as diverse as Law’s subjects, but they all have several key traits in common.
“All the sitters share the same personality traits,” Law says. “They all have an absolute passion for what they do and they sustain it, which is quite remarkable. They're all dedicated; they have immense resilience and stamina. Some of it has come from childhood adversity, which is an incredible thing, to turn the bad into good.”
This is all well and good, but I can’t help wondering if this makes these luminaries any easier to photograph. “As the photographer, you're slightly the enemy, because people are always a little bit dubious, even very well established people, because they don't know quite how you're going to portray them,” Law says. “Sometimes when they have their own team with them, they almost feel safer on set.”
Alongside that well-cultivated eye, Law cites meticulous planning and the help of a crack team as the crucial ingredients behind her photographic formula. A healthy dose of self-confidence comes in handy too.“I am a bit shameless. I do approach people and I don’t mind rejection,” she says, recalling the time she approached Noel Gallagher at a football match to ask him if she could take his photo. A long time Oasis fan and former Manchester resident in her youth, Law describes Gallaghers’ seal of approval as “a dream come true”.
Her portrait of the Mancunian megastar, who is famously averse to photos, is a nod to the style of David Bailey. It is described by Law as an intimate photograph captured with a 100-millimetre lens to give the shot a shallow depth of field. “I didn't stop talking [to him] which is something I tend to do with sitters, especially those that I sense feel a little bit uncomfortable,” Law says. “By chatting, you're more likely to see a reaction that, for me, is an essence of that person that I want to capture.” Other stars have been more forthcoming in front of the camera. Sienna Miller was “charming, intelligent, funny, sexy, and absolutely beautiful”.
Rod Stewart was also a joy to work with. “He was just as charming as you would expect. I think I'd suggested taking grooming or an assistant, and he said: “We don't need that, do we?” In another memorable shoot with Cattrall the actress threw her leg over a nearby chair, striking a power pose, hair tousled, eyes fixed down the lens. “That was completely spontaneous,” Law recalls. “When you're working with people like that there's just no doubt you're going to get the most amazing shot.” Orlando Bloom, then starring in a 2018 revival of Killer Joe at the Trafalgar Studios, was memorably “striking and charismatic” during a 20 minute shoot on stage. “It was quite amazing,” Law says. “I was told on Monday that I could shoot him on Thursday, and I had this small window between the matinee and evening performance.” We could be at this all day given the ever growing list of stars that Law has photographed, but I want to ask her why she works exclusively in black and white.
“It’s iconic. It stands the test of time. You can look at the images I took in 2016 and those I took this year and they're timeless,” she explains. “I love colour photography. The world is colour. We are in colour. But I just love the lack of distraction in a black and white portrait. I do think there's honesty too,” Law adds. “You see that essence of the person. There’s a simplicity to it.”
Legends by Zoë Law will be exhibited across the NPG’s Studio Gallery and Spotlight Space from November 29 until March 2
