All language subtitles for 6. 2014–present

So things did get really difficult and of course,

overheads built up and suddenly, you know,

you kind of swell, success can make you swell.

And when you first get it,

especially if you weren't wealthy when you started,

when you make money, suddenly you put so much weight

on things, objects, cars, watches, shiny bits of kit,

being members of the right clubs, doing the right things,

being seen in the right places, expensive holidays,

all this stuff comes in.

And then when your earnings go,

you're really really suddenly

getting ground rushed to a problem.

At the same time, Leica brought out a camera.

And it's interesting.

So in the days of film,

I used to use Leica M6 cameras.

And then in 2004, I went off to shoot the publicity photos

for King Kong in New Zealand, Pete Jackson's King Kong.

And we went out there and we took the new digital camera

which was a Canon and my normal Leica kit.

And we went out and we tried these digital cameras

and it was extraordinary.

I mean, the ability to see what you were getting,

the quality of things were just extraordinary.

And I literally came back from that one trip

at the beginning of 2004, and I didn't shoot film anymore.

I know there was a lab in London

and I was their biggest client on that last month of 2003.

And in 2004, I never once used their business again.

So it's the maddest change.

And I got really into my digital photography

but it was entirely based

on Canons from that moment on.

all, all the way through until around 2014,

2015, and two things happened.

One was Instagram, and it had been around for a year or two

but that's when I discovered it.

And I discovered this thing that would sort of empower me

to really show the work that I will wanted show people.

And then at the same time, Leica brought out

what in my opinion was their first

truly great digital camera,

which was called the Leica Q.

And it had a fixed 28 mill lens.

And the amazing thing for me was that it was light.

It was lighter than the Leica Ms everywhere

but it was small and it was unobtrusive.

And my Canons were these, big heavy,

black SLR cameras with sort of zoom lenses on them.

And suddenly I had this light, little camera

that I could take anywhere.

If I had to go somewhere, I wasn't allowed a camera

I'd take my jacket off, sling it over my shoulders.

But my jacket back on, no one knew I had this thing

and I would take this camera with me everywhere.

And one of the cool things is I could take my pictures,

back them up wirelessly onto my phone

and then post them to my Instagram account.

And it was a huge change for me in how I worked.

'Cause I'd gone from shooting one or two jobs a month,

and if the jobs weren't huge, we didn't do them.

And I'd quite arrogantly turn down a lot of smaller work.

And suddenly, I was taking pictures every day

and I had this real change in my mindset.

And I said to myself right, now, from now on,

I'm gonna accept nearly every job that gets offered to me.

And if they'll pay me a lot of money,

I'll take a lot of money

if they'll pay me a little bit of money, but I like it,

I'll still do it.

And I went off and I started,

I suppose falling back in love with photography.

And what Instagram allowed me to do

is I was suddenly my own one man band.

I remember I went to the Venice Film Festival the first time

on my own with one Leica Q and my mobile phone.

And I just talked my way onto different actor's boats,

and saw a lot of people that I'd met

throughout the years on film sets, a lot of the publicists,

a lot of the marketing people and a lot of the actors,

and started photographing them.

And I'll take their pictures,

and then when they all got off the boat,

I'd stay there and I'd back the pictures up

put them on my phone and I'd publish them.

And it was an absolute revelation to me.

If you think how that would've worked in the olden days,

you'd have had a magazine that would've a bureau chief

that would've sort of organized the shoot.

I would've shot the pictures on film.

They'd have been, either I'd have developed them locally

or they'd have gone off to a lab,

but however they were, the film

or the prints would've had to get to New York

or London or wherever the office was of the magazine,

printed and distributed.

So I'm in Venice and I take this photo

of Jake Gyllenhaal Jason Clarke and Josh Brolin.

And they're on this boat and we've left a hotel,

we're driving towards the film festival

and a big boat's gone by creating a big bow wave.

And the bow wave hits our boat

and they were all standing up posing,

and suddenly the boat were woo and suddenly they all went,

and you see Josh Brolin holding on for dear life

and Jake's pulling a mad expression.

Anyway, it was a really cool picture.

So I posted this picture and Instagram saw it

and they posted it to their,

I think at the time they had something

like 180 million followers on their Instagram,

and they posted this picture

and talked about the work that I was doing in Venice.

I think my following went up

from about 10,000 to 40,000 overnight at this place.

And that really got me thinking, and I came home,

I went to see Leica and it was agreed

that I would become an ambassador for them,

got a bit more kit.

And I suppose started the journey that has led me

to where I am today.

I still, if I like a job that's not paying money,

I still do it for free.

And if I sort of like a job

that isn't paying much money, I'll still do it.

And I'm now in the lovely position

that if something's paying a lot of money

and I don't like it,

I won't do it, which is a lovely place to be.

I've had a few big things happened in the last year.

I did my Skills Faster course.

I got the sort of concept of helping

to democratize good photography

and getting all these people that use their mobile phones

taking better photos.

But you know, it wasn't purely altruistic.

I was absolutely doing it as a business

but it was really successful and has led

on to calls to me to do this.

I designed a Leica camera with Daniel Craig

who I was working on "No Time To Die" with.

We designed this camera with Leica

which came out and was there fastest selling

large edition camera they've done.

And since been designing other products

which are gonna be coming out in the coming years.

And I dunno, it's just,

I suppose it's hit a really lovely rhythm.

The Instagram following now

is sort of coming up for a million followers.

And there's a real sense now that when I shoot things,

I don't need to be shooting them

for anyone other than myself.

And so often I'll talk to someone about a project

they're doing and I'll tell it, that sounds fun.

Can I just come and shoot it and I'll come and shoot it.

And I don't think necessarily

about whether that picture's gonna earn me money.

I'm just sort of aware that at the end of the year,

my accountant tells me how much I've earnt

and what I've done in that year is semi irrelevant

I suppose, from all the work on films as well,

I originally developed to relationship with BAFTAs

back in 2005 as their official photographer,

which I'm proud to say I still am today.

That led on to work with the Golden Globes

and ultimately the Oscars,

where I have had the most extraordinary access.

I think another important point is that,

everything I've gone through

and there has been something about

just how, and I don't know which one

balances the other out better,

but certainly there's something about when you feel content

in your life, you are able to, I suppose,

be better at your work and vice versa.

When you've got some comfort

that you are doing the right thing in your work

it does make you, I suppose, a much more content person.

And so my work life by balance

is much better than it has been in the past.

And my family life is absolutely fantastic.

So it's a happy place to arrive at now.

One thing I'd say in summary is that I'm assuming

a lot of you watching this

are probably earlier on in your careers.

And I assume in many cases, younger than me,

but I'm 49 years old today.

And it's very different.

You know, a lot of the people I shoot,

I suppose they get their high point

in their twenties.

And they sort of feel that then.

And I only recently feel

like I've been hitting elements of success,

but what I have done on the route

is just have the most incredible journey,

to go from war zones where you see

the lowest of what humans can do

but also the bravery of them.

And you go through your own intense fears,

and you stand somewhere

and you genuinely believe you're about to die.

It does make everything else you do in your life

bot seem quite as death definingly important

as other people may.

Certainly those experiences have been hugely helpful

to me when I'm working in the film industry

because you can sort of go look, this could be worse.

To free diving with pods of orcas

feeding on bulls of mackerel,

or to see white sharks swimming past you

or to be at the North Pole, extraordinary experiences

mixed with being side stage at the Oscars,

being on a Bond set, you know, just fantastic lives.

I've had lunch with presidents and royalty

and it's just an amazing life being a photographer.

And so regardless of where you end out

and regardless of the heights that your career may hit,

it's an incredible journey.

And they always say you should focus

on the journey, not the destination.

And I like to think nowhere close to my destination yet,

but I'm certainly, you know what,

30 years through the journey

and the journey is really what it's all about.

Good luck.