It’s time for the annual musings known as Shadows and Reflections. Since so many of our lives were lived in thematic overlap in 2020, we’ve asked our contributors and friends to focus on the small, strange and specific as they look back over the last 12 months. Today it’s the turn of Brian David Stevens.  

While it has obviously been an absolute sod of a year, I’ve had a bit of pleasure going through the archive of old shoots, looking for missed pictures, things that didn’t fit, waifs and strays and orphans. It brought home how much I’d really missed people over the past few months. So here are some new old photographs, hope you like them.

_{Vic Godard}

We shot these round at my flat when I lived in Highgate, it was one of those shoots where everything broke down or failed to work as it should. Vic took it all in his stride and we got these. ‘Ambition’ is still one of my favourite singles.

_{Billy Childish}

These were shot at Billy’s house in Chatham, Kent. Chatham Town did welcome desperate men and we bonded over green tea and the crash gearbox of the Land Rover Series II. This is one of Billy’s extensive collection of hats.

This is Billy making sushi for his son Huddie. He prepared the food carefully and with love. There was just enough light coming in to make the picture; it’s one of my favourites.

_{William Reid}

When the Jesus and Mary Chain’s first album came out I did a drawing of William Reid for my art O-level. its funny how life works out. This is shot somewhere in the depths of the Roundhouse in Camden.

_{Tony Thorpe}

I shot Tony for the book Bass Mids Tops. For the life of me I can’t think why we didn’t use this frame. I guess it just didn’t quite fit with the others, but finding it was a joy anyway. If you don’t know Tony’s work he did all the good mixes of the KLF and his own productions under the name of The Moody Boys.

_{Dennis Bovell}

I had wanted to photographs Dennis for ages so when the chance came up I jumped at it. If you haven’t yet seen Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series for the BBC, you should. You might even spot Dennis if you look hard….