Photographer Becky Maynes talks about capturing London's young talent
You’ve been doing both portrait and fashion photography. What do you see yourself doing in the future? I’ve oscillated between doing fashion and then thinking there’s too much crap involved and then getting into doing lots of portraits, but then I’ve got back into doing fashion again. And I have to say, I get a lot of satisfaction from doing fashion shoots. It’s a lot different from a portrait session, you work all day and take more than one picture and try to make sure they're cohesive. It's more about make believe. I still love portraits though.
I know there’s ups and downs in this business, but as long as I make a living out of it... I love my job when I’m lighting something, making it look nice.
MC Shystie
I did this photo which was the cover of Live magazine, she was really nice. And then I got to see her perform and she was wicked.
Dizzy Rascal
This was taken before Dizzy Rascal got really famous. It was after his first album came out but before people started to take notice. It was literally a week before he got stabbed in Ayia Napa. We were taking his photo for XL Records. He was acting quite shady and wouldn’t really communicate with me. There was a restaurant just around the corner that I had arranged to shoot inside, and I was like, “Ok, so we’re just like one minute away, we’ll just go and take a picture.” And he’s like, “Nah.” So we took this photo down a mews. A week later he got stabbed.
Chickaboo
That’s Chickaboo. She’s been around for years, we saw her at Glastonbury and she just took over. She’s just the best MC ever.
THE CREEPY MORONS
There’s the Creepy Morons, they’re a two-piece band.
JENNA G
That’s a girl called Jenna G. She’s a drum’n’bass singer, DJ, she’s got albums out, and she also has a show on BBC 1Xtra.
Digital Dan
Digital dan is my neighbour. He does South London grime videos and stuff. When I moved here four years ago he was the first person in the estate to talk to me. His work is cool, all really homemade. He did one whole video with the MPEG recorder on his phone.
Ed Ralph
My friend Ed Ralph is an illustator. He’s got a show right now and it’s all beautiful life drawings done in charcoal and pencil. They’re a bit gothic. His job that he makes money from, he goes to car boot sales and charity shops and finds bits, mostly CDs, and sells them on ebay.
Kesh
She’s Kesh. I met her through this Brixton mag, Live. She started as a bit of an East end scenester and she was in a DJ team called the Coconut Twins. She’s an actor, and she’s a bit of a personality, and she’s a DJ, and she’s got a label called Keshwear...she’s done really well for herself.
Alex Noble collaborations
Alex Noble and I did these shoots together. We work together sometimes. He’s an amazing stylist and illustrator. 
Find out more about Becky Maynes
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