Shy B Photography

07/10/2025

So lovely to catch up with my dear friend , a phenomenal actor, writer, director and producer 😍

And an impromptus photo shoot too at Shy’s home studio. 😊

07/09/2025

Scotland 😍

Back from a road trip, starting off with a Robert Burns tour in Dumfries and Ayr. And then headed up the South West coast with a trip to the Isle of Bute. 😍

30/08/2025

Sharing on behalf of the fab team at Displace Yourself Theatre - don’t miss this! It looks phantasmagorical 😍

I’ll be there capturing the grand finale in my old stomping ground of Girlington 😊

See you there!

Shy

https://bradford2025.co.uk/event/a-world-without-death/

😊🙏🏻

It’s a devilish carnival and you’re invited!

10/07/2025

Shy’s first ever visit to Valley Parade! I loved it! 😍

Thank you to Bradford City FC Community Foundation for commissioning me to run smartphone workshops with its young people, looking forward to sharing their fab images over the coming months! 📸

10/07/2025

Hi all!

The smartphone photo workshops with have officially commenced! A first for me as I paid a visit to the iconic Valley Parade Stadium for the very first time! I loved it! 🥰

Looking forward to sharing some of the participants’ photos over the next few months!

21/06/2025

5 days in the Channel Islands but this time in Alderney, Guernsey, Herm and Sark. 😍

Fun facts:

Alderney - you don’t pay car tax nor is it mandatory to wear a seatbelt!

Sark and Herm - they don’t have cars as they’re not allowed on the island. But they have tractors! And on Sark they also have horses and carriages!

Guernsey - Victor Hugo was exiled here and each room is a work of art that references his secular and ‘radical’ views. It far surpassed my expectations, I was totally blown away by it.

P.S. Even Sark and Alderney have one charity shop each! 🤣

The trip was topped off by a fleeting visit to Paris to catch up with a dear friend and to visit the stunning Charles Worth exhibition at Petit Palais - the father of haute couture.

Fabulous trip, soaking in the rays. 😎

26/05/2025

60 years ago, on 25 May 1965, Neil Leifer captured what is considered the greatest sports photo in history. The 22 year old Sports Illustrated photographer was assigned a ringside seat to capture a 23 year old Cassius Clay, standing, scowling and swinging his arm above a vanquished Sonny Liston a mere 1 minute 44 seconds into the match. The established boxer was trying to reclaim his title from Clay who was heard shouting, “Get up and fight, sucker!”

This remarkable photo was not used for the front cover or even a double page spread, but was relegated to the final page and languished in an editor’s file. Shot in a youth centre hockey rink in Maine, in front of less than 4000 fans.

The photographer used a Rolliflex medium format camera and rigged portable strobe lighting, to make the colours pop. No ads so no visual distraction plus the strobe lights filtered through the thick layer of cigarette smoke to create a slightly blue haze, as opposed to a jet black, a perfect studio, making the image look more dramatic. Leifer deemed it the ‘luckiest’ photo of his career as it took 3 secs for the lights to recharge so 3 secs to shoot the next frame, and if Clay had thrown another ‘phantom punch’ then he would have missed it. And no autofocus!

This perfectly composed photo rose from ignored to iconic because it embodies the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. And remains the only colour photo of this moment. It radiates the strength and poetic brashness that made soon to be Muhammad Ali, the US’ most beloved and reviled athlete, at a time when sports, politics and popular culture were being squarely battered in the tumult of the ‘60s. Leifer lends his own perspective: “As Ali’s reputation and stature grew, so did the importance of this photo. He became Muhammad Ali, the icon. The picture is not special, if it was another black fighter - same scowl, same position, lit the same way - no one would have cared. This is Ali in his prime, handsome, charismatic, confident, a terrific fighter a great human being. This is how people want to remember Ali.”

🏈🏀⚽️⚾️🏐

25/05/2025

I wanted to pay tribute to Sebastião Salgado who died two days ago. One of the most prolific, Brazilian photographers of the 20th & 21st centuries, his dramatic black and white photographs highlighted social inequities and introduced the world to the Amazon rainforest. A lifelong environmentalist and advocate for indigenous, endangered tribes, he built an oeuvre that lent a cinematic eye to social injustices. “Why should the poor world be uglier than the rich world? The light here is the same as there. The dignity here is the same as there,” he stated.

His expressive lighting drew attention to the destruction of the planet, the plight of the indigenous tribes in the Amazon in the face of deforestation. He also captured illegal gold miners there, desperate to seek their fortunes.

One of the greatest photographers of all time.

Rest in power. ✊🏽

22/05/2025

Book now! Limited spaces :-)

BRADFORD young people are encouraged to get active and creative at the same time, with the launch of photography walking tours in the city this…

04/05/2025

Congratulations on Bradford City FC being promoted to League 1! 👏🏻

It’s a good time to announce a series of summer smartphone workshops that Bradford City FC Community Foundation have commissioned me to deliver at their City Hub (their old shop). 😊

A series of 8 workshops celebrating Bradford’s heritage and stories - we’ll probably finish earlier than the dates advertised as we plan on using some of the sessions to do ‘walk and snap’ routes around the participants favourite Bradford haunts in July.

All the photos will be shot by the participants, I’m just there to facilitate. 😊

The Foundation have very kindly agreed to host a permanent exhibition of their work from the autumn, details to be announced. 😍

Places are limited so if you are or know anyone who might be interested please get in touch with [email protected]

Thank you! 🙏

Shy

09/03/2025

When Shy met Jeremy 😍

Great event today in Rochdale welcoming Mr Corbyn, who spoke so eloquently about the UK government’s complicity in arming the Israeli’s genocidal war.