When Savvy catches up with photographer Andy Lesauvage, it is pushing midnight for him, yet it’s nowhere near his bedtime. His polite London phrases run together in a rush of ‘blimey’ and ‘brilliant’, giving the impression of a man permanently in a hurry.

“If I was God for the day, I would make more time,” declares Lesauvage. “I know - it’s not world peace, nor will it save the dolphins – but it would certainly make my life easier. It would be brilliant.”

Lesauvage’s days are the definition of ‘crazy busy’ – it is not uncommon for him to have multiple shoots booked for the same day. Despairing that there are not enough hours in the day, he simply keeps the studio open longer.

“I hate running out of time. The week just goes, I’m not sure where. I just bought a kettle, which boils the water really quickly. I am constantly searching for things like that. Even if it means an extra three minutes in my day, it’s worth it. It means I can have a coffee when I want one – right away. My day starts when I have my first cup of coffee. Only then can I start working.”

As a seasoned professional, his work can be found in international publications on a weekly basis. For the last six months, his studio has played host to film crews from the BBC filming a fashion reality show, set to grace UK screens in February. Despite his international success, Lesauvage remains humble. “I don’t consider myself to be ‘big time’. I don’t care about being famous. That’s never been a big interest of mine. Instead, I think you should enjoy what you’re doing. I love this job, I really do.”

Less than five minutes walk from St Paul’s Cathedral, Lesauvage’s 2,000 square feet studio is nestled in the heart of Charles Dickens’ London; dark and industrial, and steeped in history. The car park at the rear of his studio was recently exhumed to reveal the bodies of victims of the Black Death, “We were watching skeletons being dug up in between shots. There’s so much history here, it’s palpable.”

True to form, the two spare rooms in the studio ensure that Lesauvage can make the most of his time. “One is the office, and the other my bedroom. It certainly cuts down on any travel time there may have been.” Bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘working from home’, he insists that this all-night-all-day arrangement makes it easier to work with his international titles.

“I love it,” he says. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The People’s Photographer
“I’m a people photographer,” explains Lesauvage. Because,” he says simply, “you can’t talk to landscapes, you can’t talk to packs. I like people, I like to talk to people, and I love peoples’ personality. If you don’t like people, do landscapes. If you’re not good with people, do pack shots.”

Trick of the Trade
A photographer who knows how to speak with models, and how to get the best out of them is also a rarity, yet Lesauvage prides himself on this. His trick of the trade? To make them laugh, or to scream.

“It’s so easy. If you see me doing a shoot, even with the shyest model, I will always make them laugh. I will dance around the studio. If I look stupid, then they won’t care about looking stupid. I love working with first-time models. I have so many models who come through, and as they are leaving, they say, ‘I really, really enjoyed that.’ That’s the whole point, you have to enjoy the shoot. I always get models to scream on a shoot. You’d be surprised how many models can’t scream.”

Top Of The Pops
In an effort to explain what makes a good picture, Lesauvage likens them to the charts: “It’s like pop songs. You know, there’s a lot of pop songs out there that you can hum along to, and they’re pretty good until the next song comes along. But then occasionally a song comes a long that will take you to a different planet, and for everybody, that might be a different song. It’s the same with photographs. The perfect photograph, might be the world’s most boring photo. For me, I am looking for that picture that will take me to another planet, for the picture that I can look at, and say, ‘that is brilliant’.”

His favourite tune is Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. “I had a model here the other day, and it came on, so I had to tell her to shush up and listen. I get so emotional with that song – it takes me to another planet. Which, incidentally, time again for a bit of trivia: outside my studio, not far away from here is where the old Pink Floyd studios used to be. You know We Don’t Need No Education? The video of that, my studio was in it.”

Girls on Film
Lesauvage admits that he first fell for photography through a schoolyard crush. “I was eight years old, I was at school, and we had a darkroom at school. I wasn’t interested in photography, but there was this girl at school who I really fancied. And she’d never speak to me… but this camera gave me an excuse to talk to her. When I did my photos in the dark room, the teacher went crazy over them. So for the rest of school I was only interested in being in the darkroom, and in taking pictures.”

Practice Makes Perfect
As a young photographer trying to make rent, Lesauvage worked as an assistant in an infamous darkroom in London, where “all the big names in the industry” developed their works. He recalls that his days were spent processing photos of David Bowie and the likes. “I was inspired – they took bad pictures too. I used to see their images, and think ‘gee, I wish I could shoot like that,’ but then I’d get to see the contact sheets and realised that they were really just taking loads of pictures and getting one right. That really inspired me. I realised, ‘I can do that’.”

See the master’s works - www.lesauvage.co.uk