‘You only have your eyes to trust’: Miles Aldridge on shooting film in the digital age

“I like the rigor and tension of looking through the lens and seeing the picture,” said Miles Aldridge. From his studio inside an industrial building in North London, there is an assortment of framed, large-scale works of art — some hung on the walls, others neatly lined up on the floor. The British illustrator-turned-photographer, whose lens has captured numerous stars including Elton John, Donatella Versace and Kate Moss, is recounting his pivot into camerawork and the beauty of shooting with film. The unpredictable nature of film photography has been a powerful motivator for Aldridge across his extensive career, spanning around three decades. “At that point, you only have your eyes to trust,” said Aldridge, of the process when shooting with film. “You don’t know if it was in focus (or) if you’ve got something meaningful until you get the film back and start working on it. And I like that way of working, because the anxiety of not knowing drives you to work harder and be more determined to get (the shot),” he told CNN. It’s an intriguing statement from a photographer known for working only in highly controlled environments. The son of Alan Aldridge, a graphic designer and illustrator who created some of the most enduring pop imagery of the 1960s and ’70s, Aldridge rose to prominence in the mid-’90s when he began working with Franca Sozzani, the longstanding editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia who died in 2016. With painstaking attention given to the lighting, composition and color, Aldridge’s immaculately crafted images often feature glamorous women in moody, suspenseful settings that add an air of intrigue. A culmination of those works is now going on show in London. At Sotheby’s Story Café, the walls and accompanying props and furnishings will be covered, from floor to ceiling, with Aldridge’s kaleidoscopic imagery of women in the kitchen, including one carving ham. A retrospective exhibition, co-hosted by Sotheby’s and the Lyndsey Ingram gallery, will also run until April 17, featuring some of Aldridge’s most iconic shoots, such as “Chromo Thriller #3”, which depicts a woman with coiffed blonde curls, wearing a strappy lace night dress tucked into her underwear. Her arm is held up, a coral-colored hairdryer in hand, next to her head. “This one really emphasizes the cinematic aspects of my work,” said Aldridge. “She’s in a dark, sort of spooky bathroom. I designed the colors (to resemble) one of Francis Bacon’s paintings.” The initial idea, Aldridge explained, was for the model to blow dry her hair in a sexy way. “I checked to see if the colors were pleasing and satisfying,” he said. “We started the shoot, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was about. After a while I decided to review all the Polaroids (used to test shots) and I saw this one (with her) just standing there, sort of static. I realized it felt like she was holding a gun to her head. There was a quietness in her body language compared to the other (images), which were more expressive and loose. And so, the picture feels special in the way that it revealed itself to me through the process. There’s a lot of that in my work.” Rather than take a documentarian approach to photography, which tends to be more reactive and spontaneous, Aldridge’s process can be compared to that of a film director — starting with a storyboard, then the casting and set design. A single shoot can require several months of preparation. The advent of digital photography has made capturing and sharing moments easier and more accessible. But “when you work on digital, you have that instant satisfaction, and I think it actually relaxes the creative muscle,” Aldridge reasoned, adding that working with film allows for a more serendipitous result. “When photography is too organized and prepared, you lose some of the vitality,” he said. Aldridge’s exhibition follows a special edition of Toiletpaper magazine, published in February, which featured several of his surreal images. “When a friend of mine, a stylist, started to work for (artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari, the founders of Toiletpaper), I said ‘please pass on my compliments’. They came straight back saying they (also) loved my work and often reviewed my images as inspiration,” said Aldridge. “There was a sense of wanting to celebrate this.” Also on display for the first time are lesser-seen works, such as “Hahaha!”, a chromogenic print of a woman laughing, and a series called “Doors,” featuring a cast of female characters coming in and out of what appears to be the doors of their homes. Their activities might seem banal — carrying a bag of groceries filled with fruits and vegetables, or a fluffy white cat — but the sharp color coordination and gussied up models give the images a psychedelic feel. It’s a mood that has often evaded the work of Aldridge, who throughout our conversation rattles off a long list of creative influences, including the films of Federico Fellini and David Lynch, paintings by Caravaggio, and photography from Richard Avedon and Diane Arbus, as well as the album covers created by his father for the likes of The Beatles and The Who. In an unexpected turn, one-on-one Polaroid portrait sessions are also being offered to the public at Sotheby’s in April, allowing them to experience “15 minutes of fame” with Aldridge. Props including feather boas, oversized glasses and retro telephones will be available on set. Visitors will get to keep “the best” photograph, signed by Aldridge, while he’ll hang onto the outtakes and potentially use them for a future exhibition, depending on the results, he said. It marks another first for the photographer, who rarely turns his lens to someone who isn’t a model or celebrity. (One exception took place prior to the pandemic, when Aldridge took polaroids of private collectors who were visiting his studio.) For Aldridge, the upcoming project brings a sense of excitement and unease. “How will you survive this? How will you achieve it?” he mused. “I’m somebody who likes to control the dynamic of (my) portraits, but in this, I’m relinquishing some control, because the person will want to direct to some degree what is happening.” He continued, “They may not want to look like they are thinking deeply about themselves, which is often an image in my pictures. They might be laughing. They might be wearing horrible clothes that they think are nice, or they may want their hair done in a certain way. There is a wrestle.” “We are always looking for ways to reimagine our spaces,” Sotheby’s global head of photographs Emily Bierman told CNN. “We wanted to push the boundaries within our walls, and who better to do just that than Miles?” She added that the portrait sessions offered “a rare opportunity” for visitors to become part of Aldridge’s artistic process. “His striking hyper-stylized images have never felt more relevant than today — in an age where social media curates a vision of perfection that often conceal deeper, darker truths. It really feels like his work holds a mirror up to this,” said Bierman. And while Aldridge may have little say over his subject matter, the sophisticated pizzazz that comes with his technique is sure to shine through. “Photography is a medium where it’s very hard to do that. Even the world’s worst painter could do better, because painting (allows for) more of a signature. As a photographer, how can you bend the camera to your will, to create your picture?” he said. It’s a challenge that Aldridge has taken in stride. “I dread it, but I think it’s good for you, as a photographer and as an artist, to be taken out of your comfort zone.”