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Photographer Simon Young has been producing portrait work for magazine features since 1993. He studied photography at Elam School of Fine Arts in the late 80s, and is based in Auckland.
Marlon Williams is an award-winning singer-songwriter and actor from Lyttleton. His third solo album My Boy was released to critical acclaim in September last year. As an actor he made a cameo in the Oscar-winning film A Star is Born, and currently stars in Netflix’s Sweet Tooth.
Simon Young remembers photographing him ahead of his debut self-titled album released in 2015, noting the quiet confidence and Presley-like charm of the 24-year-old at the time.
Why did you choose to do the shoot at the Crystal Palace Theatre?
Marlon was rehearsing for a show they were doing there that night. So while they were mucking around on stage, I worked out where I was going to photograph him. He was wonderful; very quietly assured. It’s one of my favourite shots, to be honest.
I’ve rarely found people who aren’t easy to work with. Across 30 years of taking photos I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who’ve been unpleasant. Maybe it’s a New Zealand thing. That’s the awesome thing about my job – it takes me into all these different worlds.
Did Marlon just show up in that outfit or was it styled?
That’s totally what he stepped off stage in and it was such a cool ensemble. The braces, the T shirt, the hat. Even his boots. You can’t quite tell in the shot, but he had these cool old boots on. I couldn’t have styled it better myself.
Did you plan to go for a darker, moodier look or were you just working with the lighting you had?
I don’t always use lights, but if I do I’m always just trying to replicate daylight, as if it were coming through a window somewhere. I certainly lit him, but I may have lit the background slightly too. It was pitch black since they were rehearsing but sometimes that’s how I like it, just adding it in rather than having to take it away. You get that beautiful fade off into darkness, but you can still make out the background, so it was a perfect communion.
Did you direct Marlon into this pose?
I kind of directed that. I try a few things that I think will work throughout the shoot. We did ones of him leaning back; in that seat we did one with his legs crossed and one looking back on the stage.
I don’t always do the eyes-to-camera thing. Sometimes I like to get people looking off camera and I love shooting profile shots. I take inspiration from oil paintings - the [artists] would often use daylight, putting someone near a window or a door opening; they often painted people in profile - and I mean completely side on. It can be so strong and classic. There’s a shot on my page of Witi Ihimaera - we shot him completely side on because some people have incredibly strong profiles.
Are there any other memories that stand out to you from this shoot?
It’s great when you get an opportunity to shoot someone whose stuff you really love. I love his voice. I love his music. I remember I went out to dinner that night and said to some friends that he reminded me of a young Elvis. He’s beautiful looking but he just had this cheekiness like when you see early interviews of Elvis. He has that X Factor.
Sometimes you’re looking through the lens and you’re a little bit in awe because you’re often pretty close to these people. You’re trained to really look hard at the shot because you’re obviously making many decisions very quickly in the viewfinder. It was one of those shoots where I came away thinking we had made a little bit of magic that day.