Tagsmart Artist Murray Laidlaw Feature

We are delighted to have professional photographer, Murray Laidlaw, as our Artist of the Month. With over twenty years of experience and an extensive portfolio, Murray divides his time between commercial commissions, collaborations, and fine art photography. Throughout this blog, you will be able to learn more about Murray’s practice and the inspiration behind his work.

How did you start your career as an artist?
My first SLR was a Zenit B that I bought when I was about fourteen. The good thing about the Zenit was how crude it was; only five shutter speeds, the flash sync at 1/30s, manual focus and aperture. But the very limitations of the camera enabled me to explore the basic camera operation and with no light I had to learn how to estimate exposure. As my skill level improved so did my equipment, now I shoot digitally with a Hasselblad X1D II medium format camera. I bought my first Hasselblad 500CM back in January 1982. It was just over £900 with the standard 80mm lens. That was roughly 10% of my annual salary, a huge investment but it paid for itself very quickly. Since then, I have always shot on medium format or larger if possible.

What is your earliest memory of an artwork and who was it by?
The earliest exposure to art I can recall was my great grandfather’s pen and ink drawing of a pagoda. He was a lecturer at The Norwich School of Art and his work hung all over my grandma’s house. I was probably seven and I remember he always wore a very dark three-piece suit, almost certainly black and a shirt with a starched collar and a tie. Although by then well into his nineties and walking with a cane, he was always immaculately dressed.

What defines the inspiration behind your work?
I’d love to say there was a defining moment when I saw something incredible but like most artists, I take inspiration from everything I see. Sometimes the way the light falls on a box can set off a train of thoughts. There are a number of paintings that I find inspiring, Picasso’s portrait of his wife Olga sitting in a chair and The Night Watch by Rembrandt are just two of them. I have always liked the work of Reid Miles, the American advertising photographer who built large sets full of characters or Marc Riboud, the French documentary photographer.

How has your style evolved over the years?
My style has evolved over time although I have always loved photographing the complexity of flowers, their form and the variations in colour are a constant source of pleasure.

Not working in one specific genre has enabled me to shoot products, fashion, portraits and much more. The approach to each requires the same discipline but a slightly different approach.

If you could collaborate with one artist, who would that be?
Just one?! I would love to work with Albert Watson, he has been a reference point for many years. He is, in my opinion, one of the best photographers today. The late Terrence Donovan was a great fashion photographer and I would have very much liked to have met him.

How do you find working to commission? Do you find it pushes your work in new directions?

I like commissions with a loose brief, where you have the freedom to develop something. In my previous life producing and directing television commercials for ITV a lot of the time, there was no agency involvement so I was also the creative director and scriptwriter. One of the scariest moments was when a client said he had cancelled all the other advertising and was relying on the TV ad to drive traffic to his venue. Fortunately, it proved to be a fantastic success.

Commissions do push my work in new directions, although not always in an obvious direction. What you think may be the way forward is often just the beginning of an adventure.

Talk us through a day in the life of Murray Laidlaw. What does a day in your life look like?

If I’m shooting in the studio on a personal project, I will have been planning for a week prior to the shoot day, long before I involve the team. Before the pandemic, I would have gone to the studio the day before to pre-light. The studio was a casualty of the pandemic so now I hire. For a model shoot, I like to work with an assistant since a second pair of hands-on sets is invaluable. A second assistant / digital technician to look after the tethering to the computer and check the shots as they are uploaded. Add in make-up, hair and stylist and a typical shoot is five plus for me. I like to start shooting as soon and as early as possible, I am definitely a morning person. When the shoot is finished the clearing upstarts. I always try to leave a studio as tidy as I found it. 

We know you have a new upcoming project with NFTs, what made you pursue NFT Art?

There is a lot of interest in the NFT market, as a friend said it’s a bit like the wild west at the moment but it’s not something I can ignore. To be honest, I think I may be a bit late to the party, it appears to be very complicated, it is, and until you understand all the options it’s difficult to know how to go forward. However, I now have a couple of pieces on https://www.voice.com/murray and I have just been accepted by a second platform so I will upload some images there very soon.

If I’m shooting in the studio on a personal project, I will have been planning for a week prior to the shoot day, long before I involve the team. Before the pandemic, I would have gone to the studio the day before to pre-light. The studio was a casualty of the pandemic so now I hire. For a model shoot, I like to work with an assistant since a second pair of hands-on sets is invaluable. A second assistant / digital technician to look after the tethering to the computer and check the shots as they are uploaded. Add in make-up, hair and stylist and a typical shoot is five plus for me. I like to start shooting as soon and as early as possible, I am definitely a morning person. When the shoot is finished the clearing upstarts. I always try to leave a studio as tidy as I found it.