Gavin ‘Face’ Mills is one half of inspired Brit house duo Copyright, who for the past 15 years have made short work of establishing a unique and exhilarating take on soulful uptempo dance. Both Mills and partner-in-crime Sam Holt had oodles of DJ and studio experience under their belts when first introduced by the girlfriend of garage legend Matt ‘Jam’ Lamont.
But while Holt has recently made great strides with artist management company Colluded, Mills has developed a worthy profile as club, music and film photographer. His second life as snapper can be traced back to 2004’s Miami Winter Music Conference where, following a riotous Copyright party at the National, Mills felt compelled to buy a camera and start capturing these magical, mercurial moments on the road. Since then he has documented a number of Copyright and Defected gigs, masterminded artist press shots and album sleeve covers (including those for Noir and Copyright) and undertaken ‘unit stills’ duties for two feature films. And the commissions keeping coming.
We join Copyright’s photo-king behind the lens to quiz him on his recipe for perfect pictures, eternally productive relationship with Defected and wider thoughts on how best to document club culture visually in the future….
Gavin, remind us of your ‘photo-eureka’ moment all those years ago…
We’d had an amazing time in Miami and on our way through the airport to return home I suddenly felt the urge to buy a camera. I wanted to preserve the memory of some of our future adventures. And we’d just set up the Copyright website so I thought we’d need some pictures to post there too. With absolutely no experience of photography I didn’t want anything too complicated, so I bought a little ‘point and shoot’. My first pictures weren’t that great but I loved making them. As we were often playing aboard I’d always take a camera with me. Soon I found myself just going out for walks on the streets wherever we happened to be, just for the fun of taking photos. Soon I developed a love for street and nightlife photography and the quality of my pictures developed.
Barbara Tucker and Jamie Lewis performing at Nikki Beach Miami, 2006
How did your ‘visual’ relationship with Defected fall into place?
As well as Copyright’s music, Simon Dunmore [Defected head] has always been a great supporter of my photography. Even from way back in the early days Simon would always ask me to send him any shots I’d taken of gigs. He was also the first person that ever asked me to put together a DJ ‘press shot’ and continues to involve me in shooting artists and events for the label now.
Explain your overall approach to photography…
People watching has always been something I’ve enjoyed…getting a feel for the rhythm of life and people around us. One of my favourite styles of shooting is street photography. It is capturing those split-second interactions and chance encounters between people as they happen on the street. You need to think fast and develop an instinct for how to capture and frame your subject in a moment. I also like making portraits and try to look for something natural and honest from whoever it is I’m shooting. If someone’s just standing there posing for a photograph, there’s not much to read into that kind of shot. I try to wait for a moment when they let down their guard and reveal something of their character.
A young Bob Sinclar, National Hotel Miami, 2005
How do you bottle the unique atmosphere of a Defected party…any party?
My best event photos are always the ones where I’ve been enjoying the event and soaking up the atmosphere of the party – it’s like I’m not looking for the photos, they just come to you. Also, my camera’s fairly small and I rarely use a flash so I can sneak about without being noticed. People often say to me ‘I love that photo you caught of me, I didn’t even know you’d taken it!’ Of course, those shots are usually the best ones….
Shovell, 6am and packing up his drums after a mad night at Pacha, 2006
You also shoot artist profiles now, album covers, even movie productions– which do you prefer?
I enjoy making photos whatever the situation and it’s the variety that keeps it all interesting. It was cool shooting for Tim Deluxe’s The Radicle album. He’s a really creative guy with strong ideas and his album was a reaction against the electronic world so we made a decision to shoot everything on film and kept the photos free from any form of digital manipulation – analogue and organic…just like his music. This year I also had my first experience of working as a unit stills photographer on a couple of movies. It’s a really exciting and challenging environment, very different to working in the music field. It’s quite funny because the first film I worked on was about an illegal Asian massage parlour and the next, lesbian nuns! Like I said before, the variety keeps it interesting.
Dancer at We Are FSTVL, later used for the Most Rated Ibiza 2015 cover
Tim Deluxe, The Radical 2014
What is your chosen weapon for assignments?
I shoot with a Leica M9 camera. I love how the Leica feels in my hand, it’s beautifully crafted, tactile and precise. It’s a manual focus, too, which slows me down and forces me to take a more considered approach to photography. Leica lenses have a special look about them, they’re almost 3D and can take super sharp images; yet the backgrounds are soft and dreamlike. Of course, when all is said and done the camera is just a tool – the main criteria for a good photo is always going to be the subject matter.
Describe the relationship between your photography and music…
As far as similarities go in their creative processes, I think both music and photography can have that ‘Ahah! I’ve got it!’ moment when you lose track of everything else going on around you; when you’re just lost in a creative flow and just have to get the ideas out of your head. Whether it’s a piece of music or a photo, I love creating and it’s a rewarding feeling when others enjoy what you’ve created.
Simon Dunmore, 2015
What about the music Gavin? What’s going on there right now?
Well, we’ve just released one ‘sample pack’ as Copyright and another with ‘drum warrior’ Shovell which has been brilliantly received – both feature hundreds of loops and samples for people to build their own music with. Next year, we’re really looking forward to working on some fresh Copyright projects for the label [Copyright Recordings] and I have some personal stuff due with a Brazilian Afro-jazz influence.
Any forthcoming photography commissions you can share?
I’m very excited to be one of the team putting together a photo exhibition about dance music culture organised by theprintspace. Called Lost In Music, it’s a history of dance music culture from Northerm Soul to the present day over roughly 500 images and quite a few classic tunes. The show officially launches on 4 December in London before touring other venues around the UK.
Sundown Festival, 2014
How much has the documenting of club culture changed since the dawn of dance music? And what are the challenges for documentation moving forwards?
Nowadays with camera phones everyone’s a photographer. It has become the norm to see DJs playing to a sea of shining mobile screens. A recent poll stated that 31% of 18-34-year-olds spend at least half of a gig looking at their mobile screens. People want to share their experiences and let their friends know what they’re doing…I’m as guilty of it as the next person. Being the event photographer is different – your pictures are going to be used for social media and promotion, and need to have content that’s going to engage people…not just your mates. As well as getting the key shots of the artists and crowds with hands-in-the-air I think it’s important to catch those moments and photos that can tell a story in a single frame – shots that people can look back on in years to come, shots that give a real sense of what our scene was like.
How much has your photography matured over the years that you’ve been doing it?
When I first got into photography I took my camera everywhere and kept on making photos. Having a camera with you makes you look at the world in a different way and gives you a reason to take everything in. The more you shoot the more you begin to recognise what makes a good photo and you look for certain things like emotion or gesture, good lighting, angles and composition. I still look at myself as a beginner compared to great photographers I admire like Terry O’Neill and Anton Corbijn. I still have a long way to go.
Shovell in the studio, 2015
How far do you want to go, and where?
Until quite recently snapping pictures was just a hobby but now I spend as much time working on it as on making music. I’m beginning to get requests to shoot some interesting and different projects. Recently, I was asked to shoot celebratory Fela Kuti gig Felabration! at the British Library [marking the birthday of the legendary Afrobeat pioneer]. It was an amazing event and my pictures were published in a couple of national newspapers. I love being around other musicians and artists, so linking music and photography together is where I see myself going.
What’s your best photograph to date?
A personal favourite is a shot I took of Frankie Knuckles with David Morales at Booom Ibiza in 2013. I have a great deal of love and respect for what those two guys helped pioneer and create in house music. I was taking a picture of Frankie on the decks and David just stepped into the frame and gave Frankie a big hug. It really captures the bond and friendship between them both. After the tragic news of losing Frankie last year this picture became even more special to me.
David Morales & Frankie Knuckles, 2013
And your favourite club-related photograph in general?
I don’t have one particular favourite dance photo but I came across an amazing collection of pictures from the legendary Studio 54. The photos were taken by a Swedish photo-journalist Hasse Persson at the height of the disco era, and capture a host of celebrities like Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, Debbie Harry, Elton John and Grace Jones in this crazy atmosphere of unadulterated hedonism at the club. Hasse’s journalistic style of photography is brilliant and totally gives you a feeling of what it was like to have been there.
Words: Ben Lovett
Gavin Mills has contributed work to theprintspace’s exhibition Lost In Music: A History Of Club And Dance Culture launching at Village Underground, Shoreditch, East London on 4 December. Head to www.lostinmusic.online for more.
Copyright play for Defected In The House at Ministry of Sound this New Year's Eve - full line-up and tickets
