London Fashion Week Catwalk Photographer

Fashion Week Shows

View the latest catwalk fashion galleries from LFW and other fashion events.

London  Creative Photography have experience of covering both on and off schedule catwalk shows during London Fashion Week as a BFC certified catwalk photographer, working for news agencies, magazines and directly for designers.

My London Fashion Week experience started in February 2011 when I was commissioned to photograph LFW AW/11 for Russian fashion magazine PROfashion. I had approached the magazine after my images from an off-schedule show had been published in 2010. Luckily they were looking for a London-based catwalk photographer to supply images of London Fashion Week shows.

Prior to this I had already been honing my skills of catwalk photography while covering shows such as Alternative Fashion Week, Africa Fashion Week London and various student and charity shows. So I already understood what magazine editors were looking for, at least for the “classic” catwalk shot – full length, straight-on, with nice foot and arm positioning.

My first LFW show started with a hurried trip to a nearby hardware store to buy a ladder and a nearby photography shop to hire a 300mm lens when I discovered that us newbies were delegated to the back of the photographers’ pit.

Over the years I’ve got to know many of the other photographers in the pit at London Fashion Week – and become friends with some. There is a great sense of camaraderie and fun amongst the photographers – and although there may be a lot of banter, at the end of the day we do help each other out, lending each other equipment or lending each other our marked out “spots” in the pit. Over the years, this has meant that my spot has got nearer the front and nearer the centre.

After a few years of supplying images to PROFashion, I started working for a newswire agency, as one of only 3 photographers responsible for covering London Fashion Week. My images from this time were published around he world in print and online in magazines and newspapers.

And this soon lead to me working directly for several designers – which means taking up the hallowed “house spot” – the best place to be when taking catwalk photos., and this often comes with the responsibility of supplying images not only to the designer, but also to British Vogue for their Fashion Week showcase.

PicFair store (images for publication).
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Some of the things I’ve learned that are essential for catwalk photography are:

  • a backup camera
  • a backup lens
  • spare batteries
  • spare memory cards
  • Laptop (with Lightroom, the best digital image asset management tool, primed previously with specific titles. description and tags if images are for use by news services)
  • A ladder and a foldable step!