"She embodies strength, resilience, and pride": Ron Timehin on photographing LGBTQ+ icon Lady Phyll

Contemporary and commercial photographer Ron Timehin has worked with countless personalities and brands, including Apple, Adobe and Disney, and seen his work published in the likes of Vogue, GQ and many more. But in honour of LGBTQ+ History Month this February, he embarked on one of his most special projects yet.

In collaboration with Adobe, Ron photographed Lady Phyll, a British political activist who has been instrumental in fighting for racial, gender, and LGBT+ equality. Co-founder and chief executive of UK Black Pride, Lady Phyll is also the former executive director of Kaleidoscope Trust.

"I met Lady Phyll at UK Black Pride last year," Ron announced, "and I knew immediately that she was the person I wanted to highlight and honour with my photography for this campaign. She embodies strength, resilience, and pride for many, and that’s precisely what I aimed to capture in her portrait. This was a really special project for me, and I can’t thank Lady Phyll enough. Not only did she give me her time and energy on the shoot, but she’s also an amazing advocate for people like me worldwide."

We recently caught up with Ron to find out more about his process, and how approached shooting a subject as iconic as Lady Phyll. And if you're inspired to get creating, take a look at our roundup of the best Photoshop tutorials.

Why is LGBTQ+ History Month important to you as an artist?

LGBTQ+ History Month holds great significance for me as an artist. It provides me with an opportunity not only to learn and educate others about individuals who have made significant sacrifices for the betterment of society, but also to express my gratitude through creative expression. I am able to feel free and confident in doing this because of the courageous individuals who have paved the way for me. Sharing their stories, which I deeply love, is an honour.

How do you approach ensuring you do justice to a subject like Lady Phyll?

Lady Phyll is an incredibly inspiring figurehead, not only in the LGBTQ+ community but particularly for Black Queer individuals. She embodies strength, resilience, and pride for many, and that’s precisely what I aimed to capture in her portrait.

I wanted her portrait to authentically reflect her essence, devoid of overly elaborate set designs or intricate lighting. Instead, I wanted her eyes to convey her message. Therefore, I invited Phyll to my daylight studio and opted for a simple setup that would complement her features and ensure her comfort. The environment plays a crucial role in capturing a person’s essence in a portrait. Therefore, it’s essential to have a welcoming and professional crew, a warm drink, good conversations and music that is special to the subject playing in the background.

When capturing Lady Phyll, I chose an angle slightly below her eye level, looking up at her. This perspective empowers the subject in the frame and significantly enhances the sense of pride conveyed in the image.

After taking the initial few photos and making some adjustments to the lighting setup and my camera settings, it truly came down to allowing Lady Phyll’s personality to shine through!

How important are Photoshop and Lightroom to your process?

Lightroom and Photoshop are my go-to tools for editing. In this shoot, I had my camera connected to Lightroom Classic, which meant Lady Phyll and my team could see exactly what was coming out of the camera and make adjustments on the spot. This made the shooting process much more collaborative.

I started with basic editing in Lightroom Classic and then moved on to Photoshop to do the heavy lifting.

I didn’t know what colour dress Lady Phyll would want to wear on the day, so I shot on a grey backdrop. Grey is one of the easiest colours to change in Photoshop, so I had a lot of flexibility when post-processing.

Phyll picked a stunning orange dress, so when I was deciding which colour backdrop to replace the grey with in Photoshop, I had a little help from Adobe Colour. This is an amazing website that helps you create colour schemes and get accurate hex codes for your photos. I used the colour picker tool to select the colour of her dress and then started looking for a complementary colour scheme. The website showed me a bunch of different colours, one of which was the light green you see in the image.

Photoshop is getting easier to use, so replacing the background was done in a matter of minutes. But the result really transformed the photo into something colourful and bold, perfect for LGBTQ+ History Month.

Do you have any advice for aspiring photographers?

My advice to aspiring photographers is to create meaningful content. While it may be tempting to imitate popular images on social media due to their engagement, it will take longer to develop your unique visual style. Instead, take some time to reflect on your past experiences and create content that reflects your own experiences and emotions.