Calum Brookes on self-taught photography
London-based photograhper Calum Brookes captures the essence of movement in running and cycling. He’s worked with the likes of Sums, Circle, Rapha & Styrkr.
Calum didn’t set out to be a photographer. “I never went to uni for it”, he admits. “I just didn't know what I wanted to do. I think when you’re 17 or 18, the system is not right. You can get into so many different things and not actually end up doing what you've studied.”
In Calum’s case, this was hospitality work that included working in the Rapha Clubhouse in London. Calum’s connection to the London cycling scene is where he first starting taking photography seriously. “It was (bike) racing. That’s what got my interest.”
“Everything’s self-taught, a lot of YouTube, a lot of messing up"
“I look back on those first shots now,” Calum laughs, “they’re absolute garbage.” Calum is proud to be self-taught and built from the small mistakes he's made along the way. “Everything’s self-taught, a lot of YouTube, a lot of messing up. I actually messed up last week—for a client—and ended up not delivering. I guess that’s just the whole thing of self-taught. There are things you don’t learn until you have to.”
When bike racing ground to a halt during the COVID pandemic, Calum turned to the streets to work on his craft. “Rather than just sitting inside. I just thought I'd challenge myself to do something different. I believe in the creative industry you need to always pick up and learn new things. I just went out for the day. I’d get the tube somewhere and then just do an A to B. And just snapped away.”
Today, Calum has developed a recognisable style that celebrates product and movement. Shooting in this style can be physical in itself, “You get back from a shoot and it just feels like you’ve run a marathon. Stop, start, chase. It’s like intervals. Zero to max pace.”
He tells us about one of his favourite assignments, “At the end of last summer, I went to Annecy with Circle, a French sportswear brand,” he recalls. “We covered a two-day, 60K event through the mountains. On the first morning, we started on top of the mountain, and you could see Mont Blanc in the distance.” He pauses. “It was just stunning.”
Calum has some simple advice for aspiring photographers, “I’ve been in situations where you haven’t got anything to post, because you do the job, you get paid, it goes live, you post it straight away. And then… you don’t have a job for the next two weeks. So my tip is: shoot every day”
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Follow Calum on Instagram - @calumxbrookes
Visit Calum's portfolio - calumbrookes.com
