Skip to main content

Biography

My passport to the impossible...

Ray: "So, what would you like to listen to while we shoot?"

David Bowie: "What do you normally listen to?"

Ricky Gervais: "Actually David, we normally listen to you."

My camera has been a passport to the impossible; to the conversations I may never have had, and the art I may once have only dreamed of making. It has allowed me to merge my two greatest passions: audio & visual, and has been the key to rooms, places, countries, and spaces I may never have visited.

Music and photography are the two loves of my life. They worked concurrently whilst I was at art college where I also became frontman of 80’s pop band the “Passion Puppets” touring, making records and living the rock and roll dream (camera in hand) with more than my fair share of teenage swagger.

The transition from singer to photographer was oddly natural. It always seemed to me they were different doors to the same room. Portraits of fellow artists became my first commissions with music magazines: Echoes, D.J., Top Of The Pops & Smash Hits.

During the nineties I resided in the bubble that was the wonderful world of pop. I shot numerous sleeves and marketing campaigns while extensively travelling the globe in “official photographer” status with the likes of Kylie, Boyzone, East 17 and the Spice Girls.

This eventually broadened into the world of TV, film and advertising, and during that time I have had the immense pleasure of working with some of the world’s finest talent in music, sport, science, theatre, television, comedy and philanthropy.

My camera has also made it possible for me to photographically support the incredible work of Unicef, Save The Children, Mind, Children In Need, Variety and Comic Relief . This includes documenting many appeal trips to Africa and South America. I am currently working on “Take A Moment”, a personal exhibition to raise awareness for mental health.

When it comes to the serious business of capturing a comic’s anarchic personality on camera, no-one does it better than Ray Burmiston.

Client List


BBC
Channel 4
Channel 5
Dawbell
Decca
Discovery Channel
EMI Records
Global
GQ
Harper Collins
HBO
IOD
Island Records
Netflix
Penguin Books
Quercus
Sky
UKTV
United Agents
Universal Music Group
Very
Warner Music
Weekend Magazine