Cumberbatchweb

So today I visited the Simon Annand photography exhibition (The Half) at the Idea Generation Gallery in Shoreditch.

I first became aware of Simon Annand’s photography when I had time to kill at the National Theatre and found a copy of his book The Half in the shop. For his book Annand photographed a variety of actors 30 minutes before curtain call. It’s a really brilliant book filled with stunning black and white images (and is a mere £13 at the moment on Amazon)

This new exhibition features some images from his book The Half and several new images including one of Benedict Cumberbatch preparing for his role in Frankenstein at the National Theatre. The gallery is situated in trendy Shoreditch and is a light and airy quiet space in which to view the paintings.

Along with the photo of Benedict there are new photos of Keira Knightley preparing for her role in The Children’s Hour, stunning photos of Sheridan Smith and Sienna Miller before performances of Flare Path, Amanda Holden in Shrek and Matt Lucas in Les Miserable.

I was very taken with the image of the mighty Mark Rylance photographed before a production of Jerusalem and a handsome shot of James McAvoy before his performance in Three Days of Rain. In fact the exhibition is packed with photos of fan favourites - besides the photo of Benedict there are two shots of Mark Gatiss (before Seasons Greetings and All About My Mother respectively), a brilliant shot of Daniel Radcliffe (pictured above) before Equus, the aforementioned shot of James McAvoy and early photos of David Tennant, Tom Hardy (both pictured) and Jude Law.

All the pictures above are in the exhibit (copyright Simon Annand - no infringement intended).

Benedict’s photo (along with those of Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller & Keira Knightley) is part of a gallery special offer which means that you can obtain prints for £200 each. There are 100 prints available at this price.

You can also buy prints of the Benedict photo online (for £420) at Culture Label.

If that’s a bit too much for your budget the gallery does postcards (£1.50 each or 5 for £5) of the Benedict image along with images of Eddie Redmayne, Helen Mirren, Mark Rylance, Cate Blanchett, Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen (pictured above).

Do visit the exhibition if you can. Entry is free and it is delightful. The gallery is open 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m Sunday to Friday and is located just off bustling Brick Lane.