Misan Harriman

Published: March 20, 2022, 1 p.m.

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Misan Harriman didn\\u2019t become a photographer till five years ago, when his wife gave him a camera for his fortieth birthday. Since then he\\u2019s become world-famous, photographing celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Cate Blanchett, and Meghan Markle \\u2013 his was the romantic black-and-white photograph of Harry and Meghan announcing her pregnancy last year. Alongside these high-profile celebrity commissions, he\\u2019s also become a photographer known for documenting Extinction Rebellion, anti-Trump protests, and the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2020 he became the first black person in the 104-year history of British Vogue to shoot the cover of its prestigious September issue; last year he became the Chair of the Southbank Centre, the renowned arts complex in London.

In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Misan talks about his journey to become a photographer, from early childhood in Nigeria to his time at an English boarding school. He reveals his \\u201csuperpower\\u201d of dyslexia, and how he\\u2019s found a new way of shooting portraits in lockdown: \\u201cremote photography\\u201d.

Misan Harriman is a passionate film buff, and all his music choices come from movies that have made a profound impression on him, from the soundtrack to \\u201cGhost\\u201d which he saw as a boy, to William Walton\\u2019s score for \\u201cHenry V\\u201d and the moving Dunkirk scene in \\u201cAtonement\\u201d.

A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 3\\nProduced by Elizabeth Burke

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