Stockland Martel

The blog NOMIO—which covers art, photography, fashion, music, and film—recently featured an interview with John Midgley that spans his fine-art influences (inspired by boyhood visits to the Louvre), the notion of how people perceive their mom, his racy Cyber Sentinel ad campaign, and his plans to personally rebuild the staircase in his Brooklyn brownstone (go, John!). Here are some excerpts:

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From the fashion story "Memory." Photo by John Midgley.

Can you talk to us a little about the concept behind the fashion editorial ‘Memory’?
‘Memory’ is a series that was born out of this idea that the person you see as you mother now was this young attractive woman when you were a child, but in your memory this person doesn’t age. They just exist. You don’t question how they look. In fact all your emotional memories of your mother have no physical person attached. I just found that interesting. I guess it’s pretty fundamental to me and goes back to the Louvre in an abstract way. My parents separated when I was 6 and we had just moved to Paris. So a lot was going on emotionally and paintings were thrown in the mix…. So the series is about my mother and renaissance paintings.

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Johnny Depp. Photo by John Midgley.

Famke Janssen. Photo by John Midgley.

Valentino. Photo by John Midgley.

Michael Douglas. Photo by John Midgley.

You’ve photographed some pretty legendary people, which ones have you really enjoyed and who would you like to get in front of the camera?
I have enjoyed almost all of them. Johnny Depp was so kind, warm and funny yet extremely professional. He had this magnetic charisma… You immediately understood why he was a star actor. Oliver sacks was the most fascinating and love-able oddball. I would like to have president Obama and the Cohen brothers in front of my camera. Possibly at the same time!

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From a 2011 campaign for CyberSentinel, created by AMV BBDO in London and photographed by John MIdgley.

You made some quite powerful images for the ‘cyber centinel’ what was it like working on that shoot?
That was a lot of fun but I was a little worried about the consequences of the imagery. Of the images being taken out of context. The children were my own children and a very good friends daughter. The porn couple were a real couple that I have worked with on other nude projects and are so cool with their nudity and sexuality. They have a lot of fun with it. I was kind of envious of them but at the same time doubtful I could ever be that free. I’m pretty uptight about my own nudity.

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Read the full NOMIO interview, “John Midgley and His Photographic World,” here. And to see more of John’s work, go here.

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