Change Your Image
graham-236-161107
School life wasn’t an easy experience for dyslexic Graham and he left school when he was 15 years old. Post a small number of unfulfilling jobs, in the mid to late 80’s Graham decided to go back to education to a part time 3rd level course in pursuit of a career in photography, which he had a natural affinity for. After his studies he successfully landed a position working as an assistant studio/darkroom manager for a small commercial studio in Dublin.
In 1993 Graham returned to the London where he had spent a brief part of his early childhood to pursue his dream of becoming a professional photographer. He did this through learning the ropes over a few years with on the job experience as a photographer’s assistant. Working for some of the industry’s leading lights: Corinne Day, Robert Erdman, Bruce Webber and Annie Leibovitz.
It was during this time that Graham (Hughes) met the woman who was to become his wife, Jo Atkins. The couple met on the studio floor when Jo was working as an assistant fashion editor, and Graham as a photographer’s assistant. After a whirl wind 3 months, Jo and Graham tied the knot at Hackney registry office, the London Borough where they still live today, 23 years later, now with two little boys and Isaac the dog in tow.
Graham started to take on his own commissions, the transition from assistant happened quite quickly for Graham, this was due in no small part to the help and supportive working relationship that Jo and he enjoyed, the couple have worked together on many photographic productions since their early days together, as they still do to this day. They have taken on both personal projects and commissions for commercial, and editorial clients.
It was from this supportive and firm financial base that Graham launched his film career in 2014 with his first foray, writing and directing a fashion film inspired by the music of Maylee Todd, Graham produced a two-minute short ‘Clementine’. He went on to make two more shorts, ‘Be Now’ (2016), and ‘A Stitch in Time’ (2017).
Graham continues to live in London in a happy family home with Jo and his two sons, continuing to work as a photographer, to support his film and writing career. He has plans in the next few years to make his first feature film, based on characters from his latest short script ‘The Meeting Point’ which is now in pre-production.
Reviews
Be Now (2015)
Lift Off on Demand Review
Why Lift-Off Programmed this Film: It's rare we find a film of this nature that we feel works in every way. The solitude of the character mixes so well with the film language. It is a middle class, middle aged, post divorce, coming of age poetic tale that we couldn't refuse to screen.
Our global audiences responses: Our audiences connected with the character and loved the photography. One of the comments on the scorecard at London Lift-Off 2015 said "I never thought a lady simply doing the dishes would make me cry."
BE NOW Won a special mention at London Lift-Off Film Festival 2015 where the films prize is an Official Selection at Amsterdam Lift-Off this October.
Our Review of BE NOW...
Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Graham Atkins- Hughes might have a lot of empathy, or maybe there is a different story here. When we review the work of the filmmakers we screen, we're always finding ourselves investigating the inspiration behind the purpose of the narrative we're viewing.
In this instance BE NOW is an exploration of the poetic/romantic/vulnerable trauma of starting again. Getting back into the mode of romance - after an obvious absence. I can't help it, but I feel that this is possibly a gender replaced semi-autobiographical account from the filmmakers own life. Why do I think this, because the pain feels very real. From the cold setting of the kitchen, the empty space of the protagonists home, through to the apparent warmth of the evening into retrospect: the candle lit excitement...
The filmmaker has been here before - but haven't all of us?
The vulnerability Atkins-Hughes creates seems 60% director, 20% photography, 20% actor. A weight of the pain feels so well balanced and communicated that one wouldn't be surprised if the very poem narrated was indeed written during an extremely similar time.
Whether I'm right or wrong, the fact is that the story delivers, I am on-board with her and I feel how she feels when she feels it. So many times our film festival has tended to stay away from these types of poetically narrated memoir-esq music videos, but for all the right reasons we knew that BE NOW was special.
Watch it yourself and give us your review, we'd love to know your thoughts...