muir vidler

Elliot Gets the Nosebag On

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:56:55 +0100

My son Elliot recently undertook a culinary tour of the USA.

Two Nights in Colombia

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:24:00 +0000

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 probably the best bar in any town… Here’s Amy:

It wasn’t so glamorous, more cheap and cheerful - but really cheap and really cheerful.

There was a carnival-inspired foam fight going on.

This guy gave me the best high-five I’ve ever had.

It made my hand feel like Shakira’s ass.

1 dude 2 cups

Eventually we managed to pour ourselves into a taxi home…

The next day I spent an afternoon and an evening in Bogota, where I photographed crack-head callisthenics.

Bogota is a really nice city, but it does have the odd sketchy neighbourhood.

According to my research, Colombians are fans of the fuller figure.

In fact this ladies figure was so full it could apparently levitate…

The day before this I had been on a private plane with Shakira and the Colombian President, Alvaro Uribe. Left to my own devices for 24 hours I somehow ended up down an alleyway in Bogota with this guy.

I Shot Brigitte Bardot

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:46:26 +0000

When Posh Met Piers

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:25:00 +0000

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…

A Postcard from Robert Wyatt

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:18:40 +0000

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 (organic and fairtrade of course…).

I file this postcard under ‘treasured possessions’…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cWq3mIp4cU

Teddy Richardson

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:35:00 +0000

I’ve got a teddy bear that does a good Terry Richardson impression:

Istanbul Outtakes

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:17:00 +0000

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 I’m a big fop, who ponces around with a lot of expensive camera equipment, I didn’t fancy being all alone. My friend Max is useless as an assistant or a bodyguard, but can ponce with the best of them. Also he had just, rather messily, split up from his girlfriend and had some free time, so he came along.

The first night we just wanted to go for a quiet beer but somehow ended up in one of the worst bars I’ve ever been to.

The barman insisted that I take a photo of him, and when I did he proudly held aloft a cup. No idea why…

I turned around and Max was already bro-ing out with a tranny. For some reason Istanbul is awash with them. In fact, you could say its chock-a-block with cock in a frock…

In search of strippers we went to The Regina Revue nightclub.

The owner with some of the dancers.

They were all very nice to me at the Regina, but they did extract a price for the access; I had to shoot the new international advertising campaign for their sister-club Sultana’s.

Meanwhile Max was getting the full Sultan treatment.

We spent a couple of nights in Tarlabasi, a neighbourhood that an estate agent might describe as ‘colourful’.

Sometimes Max would just grind to a halt and squat down like an Asian.

I’d have to promise to treat him to a milkshake to get him moving again…

We met this guy in town - he was cool. Throw up your guns yo!

And then there was the delightful Sahra Club…

The Sahra Club is a club for trannies, and for young, straight Turkish men who are backed-up beyond the point of making gender distinctions.

Max was a great wing-man.

I went back by myself one night. I had tried to get permission to shoot in the club but no-one would admit to being in charge, so I was just wandering around with a big camera and a massive flash taking photos. I must have shot the wrong guy at one point because the next thing I knew I was being dragged upstairs and pushed down an alleyway, while mustachioed men slapped me around the head and screamed incomprehensibly in my face. Obviously my priority was to preserve my good looks, so I yanked the film out of the camera, threw it to the guys and beat an undignified and rather hasty retreat. That was the last time I went to the Sahra Club.

On our last night in Istanbul, Max met the lovely Gizem in The Beatles Cafe. After a whirlwind romance she moved to Scotland and now lives with him. She’s a good catch too - certainly better than all the trannies he’d been slow-dancing with…

Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:08:00 +0000

AKA MC PD and DJ D MaGee…

I Got Big Love for Y'all!

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:04:01 +0000

Stephin Merritt

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:25:16 +0000

Gayer rocks!

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:25:37 +0100

Pride and Honour

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:37:40 +0100

This is so easy I can’t even be bothered to make a crack about it…

The New World Order

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:34:15 +0100

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

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:12:00 +0100

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!

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:24:24 +0100

Canadian Brodeo

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:48:31 +0100

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 Solstice.

Mr Solstice gave us an impromptu gig in his studio. He had some ‘interesting’ artwork in there.

I think this one was called The Second Coming.

The dress-code in Canmore is pretty informal.

Sometimes the weather and surroundings made Max happy.

And sometimes they made him sad.

Every day started at the diner with a Lumberjack’s Breakfast.

And then we spent a fair amount of time just gazing.

Gouchin'

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:28:47 +0100

You’re never too young to pop open a bottle and gouch out on the couch…

The Leg Man

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:58:00 +0100

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?

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:43:15 +0100

I’m down with TPT.

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson photographed at home the other day. She was great - my new BFF.

Kesha

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 17:24:45 +0100

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.