Create Beautiful Cinematic Portraits Without Flash, Softboxes or Light Meters
Join me in Italy for 32 real-world portrait shoots, and see exactly how I shape the light, direct my subjects and create each photograph.
Thirty-two shoots · One practical approach to light
Step inside The Director's Light
Watch the photographs take shape, from the first decisions to the finished image. Real locations, real people, and a simpler way of seeing and shaping light.
Faded Elegance · Bergamo, Italy · May 2027
You've seen the palaces. Now shoot in them.
Every location in The Director's Light is a venue on my May workshops: frescoed villas, quiet monasteries and forgotten palaces, photographed with the same professional models you see in the film.
Small groups, unhurried days and my full attention as you shape light in some of the most beautiful rooms in Italy.
Your tutor
A lifelong passion for light.
For forty years, light has been my craft, first in BBC television and then in portrait photography.
I began as a BBC cameraman, became a lighting director and taught at the BBC's training academy in Evesham. Everything I teach today grows from those years: simple methods, used with intent, to make photographs with depth and soul.
- Portrait Photographer of the Year: Master Photographers Association
- Portrait Photographer of the Year: British Institute of Professional Photography
- Master Craftsman, Guild of Photographers
Complimentary guide
A guide to posing portraits.
Natural, relaxed poses that help people look and feel their best.
Join my newsletter and I'll send you this mini guide, drawn from forty years of directing people in front of the camera.
Films, courses, books and tools
Learn at your own pace.
Portrait Lighting Mastery Pro
Fifty-five lessons on shaping light for portraits, from first principles to the finished photograph.
Explore the courseThe Director's Light
Thirty-two cinematic portrait shoots in Italy's forgotten palaces, filmed from the first lighting decision to the finished photograph.
Discover the film
Portraits eBook
Three hundred and sixty pages. The essential guide to shooting portraits, already in the hands of thousands of photographers.
Discover the book
Scattergels
Bring the colour and atmosphere of cinema lighting to your own portraits.
Discover Scattergels