Goodwin Christine - Ed Sheeran: memories we made: unseen photographs of my time with Ed

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FOR HARRY SANDLER

My wife, Imogen, and I first met the music photographer Christie Goodwin, and her partner and manager Patrick Cusse, one evening in February 2008 at The Enterprise pub in Camden. We had driven to London from Suffolk with our son Ed, who had just turned 17. He was due to play as a support act in an upstairs room of the pub. We wanted to help Ed as much as we could, but were both clueless about the music industry and London music scene, and how it all worked. Now, for the first time, we were meeting real professionals. And they were both so kind and caring to Ed. Christie had agreed to shoot photos of Ed performing for free his first ever professional images. I remember how excited we both were about that.

The gig turned out to be a bit of a disaster as the electrics cut out after a few minutes and Ed had to play unplugged, but typically he won over the 20 or so people in the room; I was disappointed however, as I thought there was no way that Christie could have come away with any decent shots of Ed. How wrong I was. I later saw her photos and was amazed. She had managed to get a series of headshots that made our inexperienced son look like a veteran of his craft.

Now here we are, ten years on. Ed is at the top of his game, and so is Christie. Imogen and I feel so proud of them both. They have worked so hard to achieve their success, and it hasnt been easy. Ed did hundreds of gigs in London and around the UK, sleeping on sofas and selling CDs from his rucksack, before he got his break. And you only need to read what Christie has written in this book to understand just how tough the journey has been for her, too.

I love the fact that Ed and Christie both started in pubs and clubs, and are now doing arenas and stadiums. So I see this book as a wonderful celebration of their creative talents, strengths of character and professionalism. Thank you, Christie and Patrick, for asking me to become involved. It has been a privilege. Good luck with everything you do in the future.

I remember as a very young child I must have been three or four years old I used to stay at my grandads house where he had these hefty leather-bound photo albums, filled with old black-and-white photos. They were stuck to thick black pages and there were these flimsy thin dividers between the pages. You always had to be really careful to put those dividers nicely flat or you would crinkle up the whole sheet.

One of the most intriguing photographs in his collection was one of my grandfather and grandmother walking down the street. Next to my grandmother was her sister, and a little behind her was her sisters husband. It must have been the 1950s and taken by an anonymous street photographer. It was common practice back then for photographers to take pictures of people walking on the street and then hand them their card so they could go to look at the picture once it had been developed and, with any luck, buy it from them. I guess it must have been quite a solid marketing strategy because my grandfather went and bought that picture and eventually stuck it in one of his albums.

My grandfather, grandmother and her sister were all three of them looking straight into the lens of the photographers camera; the sisters husband, by contrast, was looking down while inhaling the smoke from his cigarette. There was something about that picture that mesmerized me. I remember sitting on this big old sofa with this oversized album carefully placed on top of my little legs and just staring at that photo, looking very hard to see if I had missed anything; wondering what they were doing, where they were going and where they were coming from. Were they happy or were they sad? And why was the sisters husband not looking into the camera? So many questions, so many things I wanted to know just by looking at that picture.

Its that simplicity and the invitation to the world inside the image that to this day I still try to bring into my own work. The magic for me happens as soon as I look through the viewfinder. I actually very much enjoy that the frame of the viewfinder restrains me. I like to fit things into the frame, be it rectangular or square, depending on what you are shooting with. But I feel safe and comfortable within the constraints of the viewfinder. Thats my world and I can compose it, fill it up like I want. I prefer my frame not too filled up; I hate clutter in my frame and I love lots of breathing space within the borders.

The biggest challenge for me today after shooting pictures for more than 35 years is to walk into an assignment and find something that inspires me to dig my heels in, so I can bring a bit of magic into a frame. Its not always that easy because sometimes I get an assignment where the music is totally not my cup of tea, or sometimes the artist is a really big character whose larger-than-life attitude makes it difficult to find something appealing to capture. But shooting Ed Sheeran is different. Although I would love his stages to be a bit lower, and it would be nice if we had a little less clutter onstage (his two microphone stands can get in the way), taking photos of Ed is easy for me. For starters, his music is very captivating, almost addictive. His stage presence, too, is energetic and tireless, moving swiftly from the very solemn to the peppy and vivacious. Ed brings a whole spectrum of emotions to every show, and they are raw and authentic. I have often said this, but I dont understand how anyone could take a bad picture of Ed. If you observe him performing, and you are guided by his music and his passion and enthusiasm, then it is almost impossible to take a bad picture of him. Ive grown very protective of Ed and of the images of him that are out there. When I see a picture of Ed that doesnt look good or that doesnt have the depth I feel is appropriate for Ed, I can get really annoyed.