Jon Enoch is a London-based freelance photographer, who works with celebrities, sports people, CEOs, as well as advertising agencies and brands. Jon regularly creates his own personal work, which have won numerous awards over the years.
Jon’s recent project ‘
The Candymen of Mumbai’ has won a Portrait of Humanity award and was the overall winner of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the year 2023. His previous 2019 project called ‘
Bikes of Hanoi' also picked up multiple awards including the Paris Photo Prize - Gold in 2019, Portrait of Humanity Award 2020 and was the Smithsonian Grand Prize Winner in 2020. He was also shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards in 2020 and nominated for the Lens Culture Portrait Prize 2020.
We asked him a few questions about his project 'Reflections'
All About Photo: How did you get the idea to put mirror boxes in the desert?
Jon Enoch: The main idea for this series of photos was to really challenge myself technically, with the unusual set up and location. I wanted to challenge myself and my skills in multiple ways and still see an amazing set of striking images. I’d been mulling over the idea of using giant mirror boxes for a while. There was just something about the mirrors and the scale of the idea that I wanted to put into practice.
What were the challenges of shooting a project in the South African Desert?
There were numerous challenges to organising a photo shoot in the desert. The technical challenges involved the harsh environment that was the bright sunlight, the strong wind and the glare from the mirrors. We knew in advance that the sunlight and glare would be challenging, but we hadn’t known about the wind too, which was blowing sand in the model’s faces. Because of this, we had to work really quickly to minimise their discomfort.
There were also challenges around the planning aspect, which involved transporting all of the equipment. One other element I hadn’t been able to foresee was the licence we needed to take the equipment in the desert, so I had to make sure that was applied for in plenty of time. We also had to book in desert trucks for when we arrived in Cape Town to carry the heavy equipment out to the desert. I worked with an excellent locally based production house to facilitate all this, you can’t go wrong with local knowledge and experience.
What equipment and lighting do you use?
I shoot on Canon and mostly use Profoto flashes. I use Sigma lenses with the 5DSR or sometimes the 5DIV. Sometimes my work is very lit with multiple lights - other times I just let the sun do its thing. It’s about knowing what to do when and being able to make a decision. On this shoot in particular, we really just let the sun do its thing. The mirrors acted as a fill bouncing light around the models.
And lastly, were you happy with the results?
Yes I was really happy with the overall results. I put so much time into the planning aspect, that I know exactly what needs to be done when we’re actually on the shoot.
