Respect The Shooter: Finn Taylor Speaks On Photographing A$AP Rocky, Drake, Ashley Cole & More

Finn Taylor is a London-based photographer that has worked with some of the biggest and most recognizable stars in the worlds of entertainment and sports, and when he’s not shooting international megastars and cultural icons like Snoop Dogg, Lionel Messi, Drake, Gareth Bale and John Legend, the Hong Kong-born shooter can be seen capturing everyday life on the streets of East London. Here, Finn Taylor talks to Life + Times about his photographs of superstars like A$AP Rocky, Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney, Virat Kohli and others.

John Legend

“This was my first proper editorial and I was listening to John on my iPod when the call came in! I was a big fan and was desperate to move the shoot from a plain studio to somewhere more real. There was a small budget, but I got on to the phone with some of London’s swankiest hotels and managed to blag a suite for an hour! John was pretty jet-lagged and with my knees knocking with nerves. We ended up sitting on a veranda step and eating some fruit and drinking tea, and I took a gamble and thought this time to settle would give us better pictures. My camera clicked and flashed for the last quarter of an hour. I’m as proud today of this picture as the day I took it. My fee paid for the fruit and tea.”