Crufts 2024 / Leica Q3

The yearly gathering that is Crufts, the largest dog show in the world, concluded at the weekend.

It’s a fascinating event to photograph, and my first time there with the incredible Leica Q3 which didn’t let me down.

The bond between us humans and dogs is even more evident when you witness the tens of thousands that visit every year. Competitors can face long days so they make it a second home, setting up picnic tables and grabbing naps whenever they can.

Squid Games - The Challenge

Earlier this year I was commissioned to photograph set stills for the Netflix production of ‘Squid Games - The Challenge’ by set designers Bizibot.

I was soon to learn that 456 players would be taking part for a $4.56 million dollar prize, not your usual reality show by any means, and that they would be all arriving the day after I was there. So it was important for Bizibot that the set was photographed in its pristine state before they turned up.

Upon entering the scale of the set alone was vast, spread across multiple stages to accommodate the different games, along with the huge bunk room and other living areas such as a working kitchen and showers.

The utmost attention to the detail of the set design was paid to stay true to the original show.

Replicating accurate colours and the smallest of things that you’d probably never see as a viewer, like rusting valves and pipework, and deliberately grubby floor tiles and light switches. The amount of care and hard work put into the set for ‘Squid Games the Challenge’ was something that merited taking the time to photograph and document.

It also so happened whilst I was there that pre-records were taking place of the guards standing in position in the main room. This would be later cut into the main show at various times when they entered to make announcements to the players.

I’ve included a lot of set images here, but like I say, hard work like this needs to be shown and celebrated.

My daughter after being inspired from seeing this, has already said she wants to become a set designer, so I’d say it’s a job well done.