Blackpool's award-winning phtotographer shoots Vogue front cover

An internationally-acclaimed Blackpool photographer has pride of place on the front cover of next month’s Vogue magazine.
Craig McDean... photo  by Getty ImagesCraig McDean... photo  by Getty Images
Craig McDean... photo by Getty Images

Former Blackpool and the Fylde College student Craig McDean was one of 14 of the country’s top artists and photographers commissioned by British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful to create a series of special covers for the August issue.

They were asked to present striking images of UK landscapes they hold dear.

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New York-based Craig focused on his childhood memories and the beautiful Lake District image used for the Reset theme was shot was while he studied at Blackpool School of Arts.

Craig’s fashion photography regularly features in the pages of the top magazine.

He told the magazine that he had fond memories of going to the Lake District on family holidays from his hometown of Blackpool.

He added: “My mother and father used to take me when I was eight or nine, because it’s probably about an hour from Blackpool so it was easy to drive there.”

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“And then as a student, when I was studying photography at Blackpool College, me and my friend used to travel to Cumbria in his little mini van and stay in a cheap B&B.”

It during his college years he used different cameras to document a series of Lake District landscapes.

The one that ended up on the cover was shot on a Hasselblad camera and Vriag added: “What is so ironic is that this is my oldest picture and it’s now on the cover of Vogue.

“It was before I was shooting fashion but now I’ve come full circle – I managed to shoot a cover for Vogue in my 20s”.

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He spent lockdown at his house in Long Island and besides surfing with his children, has also been gardening and has started shooting some editorial stories for the prestigious magazine,

Renowned for his fashion images and portraiture, he has photographed major campaigns for international fashion and beauty brands from Christian Dior, Gucci to Giorgio Armani, and Calvin Klein.

He is also a published author , a recipient of the ICP Infinity Award, and his work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

B&FC is no stranger to fashion.

It offers a wide range of courses and late last year welcomed Farrah Storr, editor of Elle UK, to discuss how to break into fashion journalism. Winners of a competition to experience life at Elle UK later joined Farrah on the style beat.