Sean Ellis
Sean Ellis started taking pictures when he was 11. Trained as a still life photographer, Sean moved to London from Brighton in 1994. Applying his knowledge of the still life and using it to light fashion models helped to make him one of the new generation of fashion photographers who were most sought after in the late nineties.
His work with magazines such as iD, The Face, Visionaire, Dazed and Confused, Numero and Vogue has often pushed the darker side of fashion photography with a style that has been described as ‘cinematic’. This led to a crossover with moving film and a string of acclaimed music videos followed.
He has directed commercials for Jean Paul Gaultier, Land Rover, Rimmel, O2, EA Games, Nike, H&M, Samsung and Hugo Boss.
He has collaborated with fellow director, David Lynch on a series of fashion images that were published in Harper’s Bazaar.
‘A photograph everyday for a year’ was the idea behind his first published book 365 – A Year in Fashion which includes commercial and personal work taken during 1999.
Sean has written and directed three short films. LEFT TURN (2001), a dark psychological horror film, and the highly acclaimed CASHBACK (2004), a visually rich black comedy which received the top award at 14 international film festivals and was nominated for an Oscar in 2006. VOYAGE D’AFFAIRES (The Business Trip) (2008) staring Guillaume Canet and Melanie Laurent was nominated for a 2009 British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA) award and won ‘Best Film’ at the 2010 Fuji Short film awards.
His first feature film was born from the Short film of the same name. CASHBACK (2006), which includes the original short film within its running time picked up the C.I.C.A.E award at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 2006.
His second feature, THE BRØKEN (2008) starred Lena Headey, Ulrich Thomsen, Melvil Poupaud and Richard Jenkins. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance film festival as part of its official selection program and also won the prize for best Cinematography at the Sitges international film festival.
Sean’s second book, Kubrick the Hungarian Vizsla will be published by Schirmer/Mosel in the autumn of 2010.
Sean Ellis' beautiful and emotional new photography book 'Kubrick the Dog' is out now.