Leica Gallery London has announced the inaugural exhibition of Charlie Gray, showcasing 12 epic portraits illustrating the stories of actors, artists, great entertainers, and rock music royalty. The exhibition highlights work that contains his signature narrative style, which was partially born from his early love of cinema.
Gray’s work for industry giants, such as BAFTA, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, EON Productions, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair, focuses on portraiture, fashion, and candid behind-the-scenes moments of beloved stars from film and theatre.
Gray began photographing whilst at university, becoming involved in various documentary projects. He acknowledges these formative years as a true learning curve in terms of technical and people skills, which later became invaluable to his photographic career.
This was also a time when he digested photography books, specifically the work of Martin Parr and Don McCullin, among others. His first commercial assignment was for BAFTA, enabling him to encounter incredible people from the film studios and entertainment industry, leading to portrait commissions and blue-chip magazine shoots. The rest is now history after his career path was paved and his work has continued to gain gravitas since.
All works in the exhibition were shot on Leica cameras including the Q, S-System, and the SL-System, which Gray cites as giving him the freedom to produce the work he always wanted due to the sublime way it captures light and the wide scope of lenses available.
Photographs in the exhibition are also available for purchase, the event will take place from the September 14 to October 29 2023 at the Leica Gallery London, 64-66 Duke Street, W1K 6JD.
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