Jim Naughten

Jim Naughten was commissioned by ad agency St Lukes to take photos for the Taste Matters exhibition, backed by Ikea. Known for travel photography and travel portraits, Naughten was asked by Mitchell Bates at St Lukes to shoot a series of living rooms around the country. The images illustrated the ad agency’s findings into its research on British taste for Ikea, and became an exhibition earlier this summer.

‘When Mitchell approached me, I thought “fantastic!”. Anything that has a strand of documentary and travel is going to be interesting. I wouldn’t have been so interested if it had been pack shots in a studio,’ says Naughten. ‘Technically, there were not many differences between shooting the living rooms and the travel work. Outdoors, I might light a shot, but the living rooms weren’t lit. The images are sober rather than attention-grabbing. It was a challenge doing mundane, everyday type stuff and making it look as beautiful if possible,’ he adds.

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