The blog of Charlie Clift Photography: A year of firsts: 2015

Is it me or does time fly quicker every year? 2015 is gone and the time has come to take a good look back at what it brought me and it seems that it brought a lot of firsts. Here is just a short selection of them:

First final in the AOP awards

My favourite image I've taken to date was selected as one of the top images at the Association of Photographers Awards. The mayfair lawyer Raymond “Jaws” Tooth was captured on a fun shoot for The Sunday Times Magazine. See the shoot with Raymond here: http://charlieclift.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/raymondtooth.html

First national cover
Equally satisfying was seeing my picture on a national cover for the first time. The Independent Saturday Magazine commissioned me to capture the world of virtual reality pornography. Certainly not the first cover I expected! A selection of my favourite images is here: http://charlieclift.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/VR-porn-independent-cover.html

First solo exhibition
A big one for any photographer. My “Brits Abroad” was exhibited at the 12 Star Gallery in London. Seeing my very own images on a gallery wall and having people come to see my work specifically is simply other-worldly. A quick look at the exhibition is here: http://charlieclift.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/brits-abroad-at-12-star-gallery.html

First time I covered anyone with 150 liters of wine
Speaking of personal work, I must admit that shooting my friend Nik Darlington was one of the most fun shoots of 2015. One crazy wine merchant, one keen guy with a camera (that’d be yours truly), and 150 liters of wine. What could possibly go wrong? The photos are here: http://charlieclift.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/ideas-are-dangerous-things-pouring-150.html

First global campaign
The world ‘global’ started popping up in my commissions. AXA’s “Challenge Everything” campaign was my very first global advertising adventure and saw me jet off to the steep streets of Montmartre, shiny roads of the City of London and narrow wet markets of Hong Kong. More of these in 2016 please and in the meantime here is the blog post from the campaign to enjoy: http://charlieclift.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/challenge-everything-global-ad-campaign.html

First time I cycled 700 miles
Last, but not least I could not look back at 2015 and not see my cycling adventure. 5 friends, 2 states, 700 miles and way too many anecdotes to fit in a blog post: I cycled from Portland to San Francisco taking photographs along the way. The West Coast light is extraordinary, second only to the feeling of completing an epic cycle like this one. The photos are here: http://charlieclift.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/cycle-shambles-pacific-coast-cycling.html