The Sunday Times Magazine - Why are men so unhappy?

Matt Rudd has been looking at why middle-aged men are so often unhappy. And I was tasked with turning this idea into a conceptual cover for The Sunday Times Magazine. When the director of photography asked me to make it rain inside an umbrella my mind instantly started racing… thoughts of Rene Magritte dominated, this is an idea he would have liked. But then reality dawned on me, I’m not a painter, I’m a photographer, I need to actually make it rain inside an umbrella. Thankfully I have a very hands on father and we spent a great fun afternoon rigging up an umbrella with tubing so that it would actually rain on Matt. Then a few days later I found myself outside Matt’s house connecting that umbrella to his garden hose. The weather gods had given us the perfect background – a few clouds in an otherwise blue sky. Magritte was smiling down on us. So we turned on the tap and made the most of it. Massive thanks to Russ for this incredible commission, to Matt for being happy to get cold and wet without moaning, to Peter Crowther for his wonderful digital manipulation, to Oliver Sharp for the excellent styling, to Dan Biddulph for the brilliant cover design, to Oliver Mayhall for assisting so brilliantly, and to Matt’s family for all their help in making this happen.