Ray Winstone for Mens Health Magazine
It’s Monday evening, 9pm, the phone rings, it’s my good friend John Fendley (aka Fenners). “Ben, I’m interviewing Ray Winston tomorrow for a Mens Health piece but they don’t have stills”, I thought for all of 30 seconds, looked at Leanne, “John, I’ll get the train down first thing and meet you there“. I booked the train and off I went, no commission, no fee, just an opportunity.
Ray was exactly how I imagined he would be, an absolute ‘Gentlemen’. There wasn’t supposed to be stills and so I had to work around the schedule, Ray was kind enough to spare me 10-15 minutes before grooming so we could take some pictures. We caught up on some mutual friends and of course the football! I quickly took some portraits with his cup of tea and before we knew it it was time for the interview! The shoot was at the world famous Regency Cafe in Plimlico, London and the cafe made for such a beautifully rich and soulful location.
This speculative and can do attitude, I feel typifies what I try to pride myself on, it was then up to me to give Men’s Health pictures that they couldn’t refuse! Fortunately, after seeing the contacts they commissioned a 3 double page spread in the June issue. It’s always a thrill to go to the shop, flick to the spread and read your name!
Thank you so much to John for thinking of me and knowing I was the only one mad enough to make the 300 mile journey for the chance of a photo and thanks to Robert Hicks for letting me be a part of the magazine, hopefully the start of a working relationship going forwards.
