The Stencil: London Calling

This Banksy stencil first appeared in late 2010 and it was painted opposite a prominent ‘The News Of the World’ billboard across the street on The Highway junction with Wellclose St, London E1.

The artwork itself is based on the iconic photograph of ‘The Clash‘ bassist Paul Simonon taken by Pennie Smith. The photograph was to become the album cover of their 1979 release London Calling, which was based on the layout and typography of Elvis Presley’s debut record (released in 1956).

The Location:

I had always planned on shooting this image in a ‘typical’ office, so naturally I asked my boss (at the time) if it would be ok to come in on the weekend and do the shoot at work. It’s just your run of the mill open plan office building, and I had been working there throughout the duration of this project.

Wardrobe/Props etc:

There wasn’t much to this image in terms of wardrobe and props- the chair was already at the location, the t shirt I bought from a Salvation army store, the rest of the wardrobe (tight jeans, doc marten boots) belonged to the model.

The Shoot:

Shooting this image was actually a lot more difficult than I expected because It was just the model and I, so not having any helpers to hold things (particularly the heavy, swiveling office chair) made things less than ideal, but we persevered, and I am very happy with how the image turned out.

The model was lit with the b1600 which was fitted with the 7 inch reflector and a grid (See ‘Gear‘ page for more details).