May 2012
1 post
Elliot Gets the Nosebag On
My son Elliot recently undertook a culinary tour of the USA.
February 2012
2 posts
Two Nights in Colombia
I went to Colombia to photograph Shakira who was doing some work for her charity Pies Descalzos Foundation.
At the end of the trip Shakira went off to spread the love elsewhere and myself and the writer Amy got dropped off in Barranquilla for a night of R&R. It was during the build up to the carnival and we were lucky enough to stumble into La Troja, the best bar in town; in fact its...
I Shot Brigitte Bardot
January 2012
1 post
When Posh Met Piers
If you ever find yourself staring down the barrel of a Piers Morgan kiss, here’s Posh Spice demonstrating the right technique: hold your breath, adopt the trout-sucking-a-lemon-pout, aim wide and think of the money. Good luck…
December 2011
2 posts
A Postcard from Robert Wyatt
I had a great afternoon at Robert Wyatt’s house. Its a big, cosy place and he and his wife Alfie were really good company: friendly, interesting and funny. They even fed me some pea and ham soup. It was quite a wrench when I had to leave to drive back to London.
A couple of weeks after the shoot I sent him some prints, and received, in return, this postcard made out of a box of tea...
Teddy Richardson
I’ve got a teddy bear that does a good Terry Richardson impression:
November 2011
4 posts
Istanbul Outtakes
I went to Istanbul to make ART.
For various reasons (that I’ll enigmatically keep to myself), this involved photographing a lot of strippers, drunks and assorted trannies. You can judge how successful I was by looking here: http://www.muirvidler.com/projects/istanbul
The following photos are some of the outtakes.
A couple of the locations I wanted to go to were a bit seedy, and as...
Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee
AKA MC PD and DJ D MaGee…
I Got Big Love for Y'all!
Stephin Merritt
October 2011
5 posts
Gayer rocks!
Pride and Honour
This is so easy I can’t even be bothered to make a crack about it…
The New World Order
The other day I was hanging out with my two very good friends, the Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. We like to get together in Hague’s office every now and then to drink tea and do our bit for the New World Order…
The Dudes from 'The Office' Office
Have you ever wondered what the dudes from ‘The Office’ office looks like?
Neither have I.
But for the record, it looks like this:
Black Power!
September 2011
4 posts
Canadian Brodeo
They do say that when you’re tired of Glasgow you’re tired of strife, but recently my friend Nic made the move from there to the New World - Canmore in Canada. I went to visit him with Max (below right).
It was pretty nice there, although its not always the easiest place to get around.
We went to play frisbee golf at a ’sports ranch’ run by a guy called Infinity...
Gouchin'
You’re never too young to pop open a bottle and gouch out on the couch…
The Leg Man
There’s a joke here about being legless, but I can’t be bothered to work out what it is…
UPDATE: On reflection, I think the joke is about him being a leg man.
You down with TPT?
I’m down with TPT.
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson photographed at home the other day. She was great - my new BFF.
August 2011
2 posts
Kesha
I recently spent a day in London with Kesha. I have nothing particularly insightful to say about it other than it was fun and she was cool - and if I was Eminem I’d try to work an “alopecia/Kesha” rhyme into my new album…
Kesha with her entourage - the Blackberry Mafia:
In the bar before the show I found her backing dancers chucking a couple back.
...
A Little Bit of Madness
Specifically, the bits called Suggs and Chas Smash (aka Carl).
It feels a bit redundant to say that I like Madness. Is there anyone that doesn’t? I bet even the Taliban like Madness…
This shoot happened late at night in a room above a restaurant in Soho. They’d just come back from playing a festival in Australia, Suggs was a bit tired and Carl was, if not over-refreshed,...
July 2011
4 posts
Got My Ghent On...
Maybe I’m a bit of a contrarian, but I’ve always liked Belgium.
They’ve got some useful shops there.
I had a romantic dinner with someone I really love…
…stayed on a houseboat…
…and then learned how Jan De Cock improvised and overcame - I think it was in a similar fashion to the boy named Sue…
I Shot Takashi Murakami
These were done recently at his show in the Gagosian Gallery in London. While we were setting up he was being shot by an impressively limber Japanese photographer.
I recently did an entire shoot sat on a stool and I had a bit of a sore back after that… Anyway, Takashi was great.
It proved impossible to ignore the elephant in the room:
Special bonus-picture of me reflected in...
I Shot Bill Drummond
Hoxton Square is so Vibrant!
I have an office on Hoxton Square in London. On Friday night it turns into a massive al fresco public toilet for the bright, young things of east London. Its worth bearing in mind that when an estate agent describes an area as being ‘vibrant’ what he really means is that a bunch of flinty-eyed opportunists will overcharge you for coffee and booze and your doorstep will get pissed on...
June 2011
3 posts
John
You know what’s really punk these days? Not having any tattoos.
I Shot Gaddafi
I’ve been to Colonel Gaddafi’s house twice.
The first time I was in the company of 25 beauty pageant contestants, and the second time I was with a 19 year old American woman who had just been made the Honorary Libyan Consul to the USA, the first diplomatic link between the two countries in more than 20 years. And I still couldn’t tell you why I was there or what was going...
Ichiban is Dead! Long Live Ichiban!
The other day Eliza languorously reclined, cocked a leg in the air and popped this out:
Elliot Arran Vidler. Not too shabby eh? As you can see he’s already got Eliza’s smile…
For the last 30-odd years I’ve become accustomed to being number 1 in my life, and now, overnight, I’ve gone from being number 1 to number 3. And that’s on a good day. On a bad day...
May 2011
1 post
Baby Got Front!
I like big bumps and I cannot lie…
Eliza is, what I believe the medical profession term, ‘up the duff’. She still makes a good makeshift tripod though…
There has been some talk amongst the chattering classes about what the fruit of our loins will look like… A ginger Chinese? Well, we’ll find out pretty soon. Happily my brother, Craig, has cleared up what...
April 2011
2 posts
A Rash Foray into Sports
I went mountain biking in Scotland. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Here I am in the Borders General Hospital.
Afterward we went to the pub. I thought I had been having a bad day until I saw this pig…
The Petite Gem
Eliza and I went to the Norfolk Broads on a boat called the Petite Gem.
If you’re into lots of water and reeds then this is the place for you…
Eliza: Fresh On the Boat…
We found out that swans don’t like Twiglets. Which might explain why you never see any in the Groucho Club…
If Eliza ever records an album of acoustic Captain Beefheart...
March 2011
4 posts
Wu-Tang is for the Children!
ODB knows that Wu-Tang is for the children:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS181X4F3bw
And my little nephew Lucas knows that the children are for Wu-Tang…
Crack is Wack!
Did you ever wonder what the fashion industry looks like behind-the-scenes?
Well it just like the building industry I’m afraid…
Here’s Rankin hard at work.
Crass
Did you know that anarcho-punk band Crass have their own chauffeur? Here he is at the arrivals bit in Stansted Airport.
Detail:
Ronseal All-Weller
Does just what it says on the tin.
February 2011
4 posts
Chipping Away at the Photo-Face...
After a weekend spent increasing the peace, I am now back to chipping away at the photo-face. Trying to draw some inspiration from this woman in Istanbul…
(This is not an outtake from my new ad campaign for Puma - it should be though…)
A Correspondent Writes...
After my post on Horsley I was lucky to be on the receiving end of some moving and thoughtful words from his good friend Paul V Lawford, AKA Garcia Rubbish, AKA Lord Bath of Soho (pictured above right with Robert Rubbish).
I like your piece on Sebastian, he would have been delighted to point out that he wrote almost all of it, aside from the sporadic scribbling interruptions from your squalid...
Bloods
Those pesky Bloods really get around don’t they? Here they are in Canmore, Canada.
And then a few weeks later I met this charming Bloods gang in The Maldives.
I wonder why you don’t see the Crips around so much? Or is the answer to that in their name…?
Photographing Sebastian Horsley
Well, what can one say about Sebastian Horsley that he has not already said about himself?
I hope it won’t ruin his reputation too much to say that he was great company, very generous and thoughtful, and actually a lovely man (not a word I use that easily - although I’m sure I don’t dislike it as much as Sebastian would - but it seems to fit him somehow…).
But first,...
January 2011
3 posts
Vive les Mariés!
Belgian Brian was my good friend at Stirling University. You know what a study-buddy is? Well Brian was the opposite of that…
Back then The Belge looked like this:
As far as amorous activity went, those were the lean years for Brian and I, so when I recently went to Brussels it was good to see that he’s now getting some from the lovely Natacha…
I never...
The Thin Blue Line
Did you know that they’ve now made tits illegal?!
This was taken in London at a demonstration for the right to be naked in public…
A Day in Shanghai
So my recent Asian tour-of-duty ended with a day in Shanghai. It wasn’t too shabby…
I found out that while people there aren’t quite as keen as the Japanese are on ostentatious public sleeping, its not an unheard of, or unglimpsed, phenomenon.
Also, walking around in your pajamas seems to be the done thing.
The public-phones are pretty weird…
Once again Eliza...
December 2010
4 posts
Happy Whatevs...
The Sun Rises...
Actually Japan wasn’t that sleepy - we did manage to find at least one of the hot spots.
Some of the more attractive Japanese women are allergic to ugly people and have to wear facemasks when around them.
I’m not sure why but sometimes at temples women would offer themselves to me thus:
They’re pretty big on browsing in Japan.
There was no shortage of autumnal...
I got my Nippon on!
I was quite excited to go to Japan, but when I got there everyone was sleeping…
There was a lot of competition but I think the gold medal for the most sleepingest person in Japan must go to this chief who managed to fall asleep on a train standing up…
November 2010
1 post
Ding Dong!
You’ll need to excuse me for being a bit sluggish with posts recently - I’ve been swanning around Hong Kong…
I ate in a very good restaurant.
Someone more quotable than I has said you should try everything once except incest and folk dancing. To which we can now add ‘and fried prawns with retchup’.
I met a cheerful chap with a pneumatic mop.
Eliza had...
October 2010
7 posts
Hallowed be Thy Ween
Some photos from Chris and Becky’s Halloween party last year.
Chris dressed as Aileen Wuornos.
Becky just wore a kaftan and didn’t put any make-up on.
Eliza went as a jailbait, generic Asian horror-chick.
And naturally I went as a nocturnally-clad Nazi, transsexual clown.
Linda went as Jordan.
Going as Shaggy isn’t very Halloween-y but when...
The Red Carpet
Some people will tell you ‘there are no rules’. Well here’s one:
Never go to a club that has a red carpet at the door.
MuMu!
Muriel is my good friend and sometime nocturnal photographic muse…