Hasta La Ideas

Botanist David Bellamy planting an oak tree at Earby Youth Hostel, to celebrate it being open for 100 years

We recently received a 16-page newsprint publication from Shoot The Living, an editorial photographic agency based in Preston, Lancashire. Full of great portraits of politicians, actors, and street photography, we got in touch to find out more…

“I run the company, and act as the principal photographer,” explains 28 year old Preston-based photographer Samuel Reynolds who has been working full time as a press photographer for his local newspaper, The Lancashire Telegraph, for four years. “I took volunteer redundancy in May this year to set up Shoot The Living,” he tells us. Here are a few of the images in the agency’s portfolio:

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair visiting Earcroft Children’s Centre in Darwen two days before the 2010 general election

Actor Glen Pate has a starring role in an episode of a Sky crime series called Nightmares in Suburbia

Blackburn Street People: Matty, Les, Eddie and Phearse

Citing the likes of Eugene Atget, Man Ray, Maurice Broomfield and Martin Parr as influences, Reynolds is, he tells us, obsessed with composition and tone, both colour and social, in his work. “I’m very much a people-person, as they say, and will talk to anyone who seems interesting either visually or mentally, and I try to get this across in my work,” he says.

The Smoker, a portrait for the portfolio of an actor named Alex

Nelson residents look on at a neighbouring house which is on fire

Currently all the work on the site is by Reynolds himself, although he sees Shoot The Living growing into a larger operation. “The reason why I’ve set up an agency rather than just using my own name, is so that I can have a product (the images) to sell, rather than a person,” he says. “The idea is that I will never have to turn down a job, because if I’m double or triple booked, all of the work can still be covered. It’s early days yet, and I currently have a bank of five photographers who I know and trust and whose work is suitable for the Shoot The Living brand. These guys are on standby, so to speak, for whenever I need them. This idea also makes room for expansion of the company, in terms of locations that can be covered etc, and as the business grows I would like to have photographers positioned all around the uk.”

Screengrab of Shoot The Living’s website

“The branding and newspaper design was done by Jmeel Allen and the website was designed by a chap called Jon Saul with creative direction from myself,” says Reynolds. “Both of these guys are fellow students from uni and remain good friends and close contacts.”

To see more work and to find out more, visit shoottheliving.com