Jocelyn Bain Hogg is an eminent British photographer who, while working for the fashion magazine, Scene, was assigned to document the media frenzy surrounding the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. During this time, he writes that, “The germ of an idea struck me. Why was the populace so obsessed with this fairytale, a woman mythologized to the point where many believed they knew her? What is fame and why do we adore some people?”
The photographs by Jocelyn in Idols & Believers, his latest book and exhibition, captures a refreshing documentary view of modern celebrities, fellow photographers, and producers of the tabloid world as well as the people who make up the fan culture that we are all a part of. His wonderful eye is able to capture this madness with a suspension of judgement that is rare with such a subject matter and explores our unnatural obsession with celebrities.
Idols & Believers, the exhibition and book are the result of this idea of frenzy and obsessed fame. The artist Jocelyn Bain Hogg has studied in-depth celebrity and fan culture, examining the meaning of immorality in modern life. This includes his photographs shot from the Oscars, Hollywood, Cannes Film Festival or porn festival of celebrity look-alikes and karaoke competitions. Jocelyn Bain Hogg not only focused on celebrities per se, but also on those who have achieved celebrity-status, on those who crave it, and the publicists, producers and press who promote it. Thus his quest for Idols & Believers reveals a very human craving for idols to worship.
The exhibition Idols & Believers, juxtaposes vibrant color images with sensitive black and white shots to present a fully rounded exploration of the nature of fame in the 21st century. The color images reflect our apparently insatiable appetite for all things celebrity. Starkly contracted black and white images take the reader on an intimate behind-the-scenes tour of the fame machine. No one is left out when it comes to dissecting the celebrity industry.
His continuing study of celebrity and fan culture in the book Idols & Believers is a powerful follow-up from his other book, The Firm, which focused on personal and in-depth views of the British crime world, which received instant recognition. Over a two-year period, photojournalist Jocelyn Bain Hogg has documented different aspects of the underworld, from exile in Tenerife to the broad spectrum of activity in the UK. His photos reveal this hidden society for the first time.
Jocelyn Bain Hogg began his career as a unit photographer on movie sets after studying at Newport Art College. He shot publicity for the BBC before moving into fashion photography and now works on documentary projects. His work has been seen in numerous publications including Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, the Sunday Times, Marie Claire, Stern, GQ, Esquire, Le Monde and La Republicca. He is currently the visiting lecturer on the MA photojournalism course at the London College of Communication.
