Photographing Jody Kamali's Most Personal Show Yet
I've photographed comedian Jody Kamali for a number of years, and it's always something I look forward to. Jody is a wonderfully physical performer, creating characters with expressive movement, subtle gestures and the kind of visual storytelling that feels timeless.
His latest visit to the studio was different.
Jody was creating promotional images for his new show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, My Dad. Unlike his previous work, this is a deeply personal piece inspired by the death of his father last year. While sorting through his dad's belongings, Jody uncovered stories, contradictions and unanswered questions that became the starting point for the show.
As Jody describes it:
"When my dad died, he left behind a lot of questions. Mainly: who was he? Going through his things, I discovered stories, contradictions, and a version of him I'd never fully understood. So I started to imagine... What if he could come back for just one hour? This show brings his strange, funny, head scratching stories to life and tries to find answers in the chaos. It's been the most challenging show I've ever made, but also the most important."
Our shoots are always collaborative. Jody arrives with a handful of ideas, a few carefully chosen props and an openness to experiment. From there we play, improvise and explore poses, expressions and characters until something clicks. It's a creative back and forth where the photography becomes part of shaping the visual identity of a new show. This time, that process was about finding the presence of his father.
What I admire most about Jody is his ability to blend the absurd with the deeply human. There's a physicality to his comedy that echoes the great silent-era performers, yet it always feels fresh and unmistakably his own. Even when dealing with grief, he finds warmth, humour and unexpected moments of joy.
This is undoubtedly his most personal show to date, and if you're heading to Edinburgh this summer, I can't recommend it highly enough.
