Stockland Martel

Last summer, John Midgley did a portrait project on The Brooklyn Circus, a unique boutique and lifestyle brand headquartered a few blocks from his Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, home. (This past summer, Esquire named it a “brand to watch.”) This year, he’s expanded the project with two new shoots: one in two different Brooklyn settings and another at The Brooklyn Circus’ new San Francisco outpost.

The project was a collaboration among John, BKc founder Ouigi Theodore, stylist Scott Newkirk, and set designer Mark Chandler. Here, they talk about the making of the latest BKc portraits. (To view a portfolio of the images at issuu.com, click here.)
.

The modern man knows there’s more than one way to pump iron. The Brooklyn Circus, San Francisco. Photo by John Midgley.

.

JOHN MIDGLEY, PHOTOGRAPHER
“The concept for the new shoots was similar to last year’s shoot: We wanted to celebrate the followers and fashionistas who love this brand. But this time around, we wanted to create vignettes. Scott and I went for this canvas-backdrop look, which gave it the feel of being outside a circus tent. The idea was to keep it timeless and classic but at the same time modern.

We did a shoot by the Gowanus Canal, at a big brick north-facing wall. It was perfect photographically, but the wall “belongs” to a biker gang called the Bridge Riders—who, it’s  rumored, don’t love black people. Also, the wall was right by the end of the canal, which is undergoing a Superfund cleanup and so wasn’t smelling too good.

We also shot on my street, on the week of my block party. (My neighborhood is known for its block parties, which are an excuse for all the parents to come out and grill and talk and all the kids to run around on the street.) It was comical—we were at one end of the street, with 40 fashionistas and Scott doing the styling and Mark doing the prop styling, and then little kids in diapers were walking up and looking at me very solemnly and saying things like, ‘This is my scooter.’”

It was a huge contrast one day to the next: Sunny block party one day, rainy, biker gang by a swamp the next—all within a few blocks of each other!”

.

An image from the most recent shoot in Brooklyn. Photo by John Midgley.

An issuu.com portfolio of images from all of John’s Brooklyn Circus shoots.

.
SCOTT NEWKIRK, STYLIST
“I felt it was important to create a different atmosphere for this series of BKc portraits. I’ve always loved creating outdoor ‘studios.’ You get the calm of a studio environment, while allowing a unique spontaneity to develop. I had worked with these giant army canvases before, and they create a beautiful intimacy—especially for black-and-white photography. It reminds me of the mood I love so much in Disfarmer’s portraits from the ’30s and ‘40s. That a circus-like look came through was an unexpected bonus.

Styling-wise, I really wanted to create as much diversity in the looks, from ‘dandy skater boy’ to an almost ‘Southern black gentleman from the 1920s.’ This project is always exciting for me because I go in having no idea what I am going to create until I do it.”

.

The Brooklyn Circus, San Francisco. Photo by John Midgley.

From the 2009 Brooklyn shoot. Photo by John Midgley.

.

OUIGI THEODORE, FOUNDER AND FASHION ICONOCLAST, THE BROOKLYN CIRCUS
“It blows me away how much better we get from project to project. The vision is stronger, the ideas are simpler yet more impactful, and we are producing more timeless work.
The energy in the San Francisco shoots was very surprising. We were a bit concerned about San Francisco delivering the kind of talent that Brooklyn delivered, but I must say that all of our doubts vanished an hour into the SF shoot. To sum it up, San Francisco surpassed our expectations and outdid Brooklyn. Yep, I said it! LOL.

Shooting during the block party was amazing. We showed up to a set of all-new faces: BKc blog readers and Twitter followers who were selected to take part in the shoot. It was our first time meeting many of them in person, but they were all huge fans of the brand. They all had the right attitude and were willing to do anything necessary to make the shoot a success. We had a small breakfast in the morning and ate lunch outside as a group. The group lunch was such a beautiful scene. It warmed my heart.

The process of these shoots has been so valuable to us in helping us understand the value and the poetry of The Brooklyn Circus as a brand. The shoots drive home The Brooklyn Circus difference, why we are so special and so unique.”

.

Ouigi tells me there’s talk of doing a BKc film, a project that would also involve the talents of director Eva Midgley, John’s wife. Meanwhile, highlights from all of John’s Brooklyn Circus photos will be published next year in a monograph. As Ouigi notes, “It would be a sin if we didn’t work on publicly sharing these images. We all have a love for printed matter and felt it was only right that we produce a coffeetable book to complete and stamp the three shoots into permanent Art/Photography/BKc history.”

.

.