Sinead O'Connor 48 by Andrew Catlin

Sinead O'Connor 48 by Andrew Catlin

The book reproduces the chronological sequence of photographs from one of the first photographic shoots with Sin ad for a magazine cover, including the out-takes. It gives a fascinating insight into both Sin ad at a turning point in her life, as she was becoming famous, and into the process of a photographic portrait as frame by frame the picture is rearranged and developed. Deceptively simple, the sequence provides an unusual insight into her character, the process of portraiture, and the many facets of the human face.

I hadn't met Sin ad before. Her face was lively and expressive, captivating, with an indefinable air that encompassed fragility, strength, experience, intensity and something feral. We drank tea and talked. Eventually we moved to another room with a huge bay window and perfect daylight. I had set up a backdrop and we sat either side of a table. I gradually shot four rolls of 120 film - 48 frames - with my Rolleiflex while we continued our conversation. It's a gentle camera, with a leaf shutter that is almost silent. It has an easy presence and doesn't intrude in the way many cameras do.

Thomas Carlyle wrote Often I have found a portrait superior in real instruction to half a dozen written 'biographies'. or rather, let me say, I have found that the portrait was a small lighted candle by which the biographies could for the first time be read.