INTERVIEW

The visual artist shares stories from the last year, and how serendipity, personal projects and perfectionism have shaped an extraordinary and multifaceted career

Written by Lauren Scott

Clive Booth came to photography late in his career after spending 20 years as a graphic designer, having worked with major clients around the world from British Airways to Adidas.

Attributing his professional photographic success to one serendipitous event would be to completely disregard his skill, dedication and drive for visual artistry and communication. But it was a lavish tribute to fashion photographer Nick Knight in 2006, hosted by Moët & Chandon, that provided a career catalyst. “Moët and Chandon had seen the kind of work I was doing and really liked it, so they’d started commissioning me as an event photographer for them. Nick Knight phoned me up the next day, which was a bit of a dream, and he said, ‘I’ve seen your work. I really like it. Who are you?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m a graphic designer, but I love photography’.”

Booth was invited to shoot at London Fashion Week the following year, and he went on to become Knight’s regular set photographer.

“He just said, ‘Clive, do your thing,’ and I did.” Commissions soon followed, and Booth’s career as a fashion, beauty and portrait photographer and filmmaker began. “Within just a few weeks, MAC was sending me to Milan to make films of Dean and Dan Caten, Dsquared². And then, I was off in New York. It was a whirlwind, that time.”

Would Booth have found his way into photography eventually if he hadn’t been to that party? “Before this interview, I was asking myself that, and I honestly don’t know the answer. At the time, I’d actually worked on a book as a designer for another photographer friend of mine, Doug Menuez. He was the guy who really inspired me to pick up the camera. Doug was working with Steve Jobs when I first met him in the mid ’90s in San Francisco, and I was thinking, ‘You know what, I really like this’. I started to commission photographers to shoot in the way Doug shoots. His approach really stayed with me, and I evolved as a photographer because I loved the way he isolated a subject and the way he got the connection. He and I then went on to work together. And he supported me very much when I said I was going to start shooting. We all need that mentor, that help, and I’m very much about giving that back now.”

All images © Clive Booth 2021