Documenting 18 months in the recording of Noel Gallagher’s hugely anticipated first solo album, High Flying Birds, Lawrence Watson was given unprecedented access to capture the thoughts and processes behind the creation of the songs.

Sharp colour and ragged black-and-white images are juxtaposed to create an evocative record of their journey together through the UK and America. The reportage-style imagery is supported by a short film incorporating super-eight, video and still images.

“Working so closely (and for such a consistently long time) with him has given me a great opportunity to experience his creativity at first hand.”

Click here to see this photographer’s subject visit to the exhibition.

Lawrence has worked with some of the most famous faces in the business including legendary artists such as David Bowie, Blur, Morrissey, Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys, Paul Weller, Oasis, Ian Brown, Ramones, New Order, Eurythmics, LL Cool J, Pulp, Snoop Dogg, George Clinton and James Brown.

Born in Hammersmith, London in 1963, he left school aged 16 to take an apprenticeship in a darkroom in Old Street. He then graduated to work at London Weekend Television, and whilst there developed his portfolio in the evenings and weekends and began contributing to the New Musical Express (NME).

In the early 1980s Lawrence was commissioned to document the emerging New York hip-hop scene and his portraits of legendary artists from that era include Run DMC, Eric B and Rakim and Public Enemy.

Recent works include album sleeve and video for Maverick Sabre; video sleeve and tour programme for Paul Weller; cinematography for Noah and the Whale and documenting Noel Gallagher’s first solo venture in the UK and LA. His work has also been seen in exhibitions in Japan, Sweden and USA.