Karen McBride

November 2010, I can't recall the day but I can remember the moment I first spotted Karen McBride's work. I was having a coffee in the Waterstones cafe on Deansgate Manchester and I looked up at this image in black and white, it was simply stunning, a feeling came over me as though the picture had transposed me to that specific moment in time. That is the beauty of a piece of art, it can make you feel something and really take in the moment.

I managed to have a look at the other pieces of her exhibition that were hanging on the walls of the Waterstones cafe and each one had their own story to tell, although non of them looked remotely similar, there was a similarity in the photography, they had a certain style, classic mixed with a contemporary uniqueness.

I found Karen on social media and sent her a message saying how I had just came across her work and really admired it, she responded with a lovely message back and that was it. 

The following year I was cast in a short film that was going to be entered into the 'Virgin Media Shorts' contest, a 'mockumentary' based around a girl-band. The script was brilliantly written by a couple of film-makers I knew, we were going to spend a couple of days filming and then one afternoon would be spent on a photo shoot for the films artwork. The photographer was Karen McBride (she was friends with one of the script writers). Straight away she had this rock and roll approach, she treated us as a girl-band (the actress in me was thrilled!) Getting us to sit in a toilet cubical and write all over the bathroom mirrors in lipstick (basically poking fun at stereotypical manufactured girl-bands which was the backbone of the script). After the shoot was finished I came home and sent her a message to say how much I had enjoyed working with her and she messaged me back saying ''I would LOVE to shoot you sometime". (I was shocked and overwhelmed....She had photographed so many great people, Oasis, Slash, Elbow, The Prodigy, Bill Bragg (to name a few) and was Robbie Williams official tour photographer and yet she wanted to shoot with me). To this day Karen still tell's me that from all the girls who were cast in that film, I was the only one who got in touch with her after the shoot.






What strikes me the most about Karen (aside from the fact that she is a huge Elvis fan!) is that she is a performers photographer, if you're a model and you have your 'set poses', unless you can let loose Karen isn't going to be able to help you because every single photo-shoot she does is completely different and pushes you out of your comfort zones. I've shot in studios with her (each one being a completely different set up and concept), been wrapped in tinfoil, rode a horse in lingerie and a top hat, shot with her fully body-painted and wearing a mask, rolled around on the floor with a litter of Shar Pei puppies, sat in a derelict part of Manchester in a handmade t-shirt whilst it's been raining and those are just the shoots I can recall from the top of my head! She has a vast range of knowledge of classic to contemporary photographers and how they shoot, I always say Karen's photography is like a mixture of Richard Avedon, David Bailey and Jane Bown, with a rock and roll edge all rolled into one image. 





I have worked with Karen now for over 4 years, as an actress, model and burlesque performer she has watched me grow and it's incredible to look back at the work we have created and continue to create. She is also the official photographer for my Cherie Bebe's Burlesque Revue which is currently held at Manchester's iconic jazz club Matt and Phreds. Karen somehow manages to capture a vintage vaudeville essence, as though you are in a 1920's Parisian club even though it's a show being performed in Manchester in 2015. I don't know how she does it but after 20 years of photography and still creating iconic images she certainly has a je ne sais quoi about her art. I not only have an incredible working relationship with this special woman but I also class her as a dear friend. She will tell you exactly how it is and is one of the most honest people I know.






Today it's so accessible to be a photographer or film-maker, in some ways it's good especially if you're from a background with little access to funds but in other ways there is more badly produced work out there. For example some photographers don't focus on their lighting because they feel it can be achieved in post-production i.e photo-shop. Today some images are so over produced that they take away character from the actual subject and although they may look pretty they lack substance. Isn't the beauty of art the mistakes that are made? The imperfections that make an image seem different? All this is eminent in Karen's photography. Many of the shoots I have seen the images on the back of the camera and she has made slight changes, if any to the final shots. One of my all time favourite photo-shoots are 'The Last Sitting' images by Bert Stern of Marilyn Monroe. In his book he published there are a set of images that Marilyn had drawn a big red cross through as she didn't like them. I think some of those images are beautiful even if Marilyn wasn't a fan herself and I'm glad Bert Stern still have the courage to publish them.




As a photographer or artist in general I feel you really need to have a passion for what you do, know really great photographers, be inspired by creative's in other areas like film-makers, artists, actors, performers, musicians, singers, poets and admire their work, be inspired by their style but also create something to make you stand out from the crowd. Put your heart and soul on the line, if you are going through a darkness in your life put it into your art and you will see a certain light. 

"The mark of all good art is not that the thing done is done exactly or finely, for machinery may do as much, but that it is worked out with the head and the workman's heart." ~ Oscar Wilde.