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Misan Harriman

Michael Berkeley’s guest is photographer Misan Harriman, who chooses music from his favourite movies.

Misan Harriman didn’t become a photographer till five years ago, when his wife gave him a camera for his fortieth birthday. Since then he’s become world-famous, photographing celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Cate Blanchett, and Meghan Markle – his was the romantic black-and-white photograph of Harry and Meghan announcing her pregnancy last year. Alongside these high-profile celebrity commissions, he’s 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 “superpower” of dyslexia, and how he’s found a new way of shooting portraits in lockdown: “remote photography”.

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 “Ghost” which he saw as a boy, to William Walton’s score for “Henry V” and the moving Dunkirk scene in “Atonement”.

A Loftus Media production for ѿý Radio 3
Produced by Elizabeth Burke

Available now

37 minutes

Last on

Sun 20 Mar 2022 12:00

Music Played

  • Alex North

    Unchained Melody

    Performer: Soundtrack.
  • John Williams

    Suo Gan (Empire of the Sun)

    Performer: James Rainbird. Choir: The Ambrosian Junior Choir. Conductor: John McCarthy.
    • Empire of the Sun soundtrack.
    • WARNER BROS RECORDS.
    • 1.
  • John Barry

    The Loss of the Journal (Dances with Wolves)

    Performer: Soundtrack.
  • Dario Marianelli

    Elegy for Dunkirk (Atonement)

    Performer: Caroline Dale. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra.
  • William Walton

    Suite: Henry V

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: William Walton.
  • Mark Isham

    Sense of Touch (Crash)

    Performer: Carol Ensley.
  • Howard Shore

    The Bridge of Khazad-Dum (The Fellowship of the Ring)

    Performer: Soundtrack.

Broadcast

  • Sun 20 Mar 2022 12:00

Podcast