About Rosie Still
With the surname ‘Still’ I was destined from birth to become a still photographer
I started off as a photojournalist in January 1973 photographing and interviewing pop stars and TV celebrities for teenage magazines.
Becoming a professional Pop photo-journalist in the Seventies was the most exciting time for me. It was when Glam Rock ruled the music scene and it was worth photographing people just for their costumes alone. Everybody who was “somebody” during this period I captured on endless rolls of film; people like Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Marc Bolan, Alvin Stardust, Suzi Quatro, Kylie Minogue, Whitney Houston etc.
I also worked with people like Dudley Moore, Victoria Wood, Polly James, Nerys Hughes, and even today I can still class people like Hazell Dean, Helen Shapiro, Gabrielle Bradshaw and Chris Jarvis as good friends. One of my closest friends Alvin Stardust, who I’d known for over 40 years sadly died in October 2014.
In 1984 I was booked to do a one-off session with Jazz performers Humphrey Lyttelton and Helen Shapiro and ended up being Humph’s personal photographer for 24 years until he died in 2008.
Although I’ve done all types of studio sessions, since 1986 my real passion became Spotlight publicity shots for actors, presenters and drama students. Chris Jarvis (CBeebies), Christopher Parker (ex-Eastenders) and Charlie Clements (ex-Eastenders) all came to me for their first photo sessions. I’m not saying that I made them famous, but my photos of them were the first things that the BBC saw!
Over the years I’ve photographed in my studio many famous people (including Debra Stephenson, Bella Emberg, Liz Fraser, Michelle Hardwick, etc). I particularly like the fact that a huge number of my clients have returned to me on a regular basis, whenever they need to update their headshots. Actor John Judd was the first Spotlight session I did and artist, sculptor, actor, TV presenter (a lady of many talents!) Gabrielle Bradshaw has been bringing herself and her artwork to my studio since 1993, and both admit that they wouldn’t go anywhere else.
In 2004 Olympus gave me the opportunity to go digital, by asking me to test try their latest DSLR camera and since then I’ve not looked back.
A lot of Agents and Drama Schools sent people my way because they knew that I’d take exactly the kind of photos that they want – nothing arty farty, no trees coming out of their heads, and no floating heads! – just lovely clear shots showing their clients at their very best; whether mean and moody or smiley (I took lots of shots of both) – but with that extra ‘sparkle’. You can’t survive in a business for over 50 years if you ain’t doing something right!