Eli Lawson-Adamah: "It's About Capturing Everything That's Not In The Frame"

Written by Nathan Evans

Photography provided by Eli Lawson-Adamah

Eli Lawson-Adamah is one of those hard-to-pin personas that can only be thoroughly described through stories rather than words. He is the type of person to buy an A3 photography book hours before a gig, read it in the queue, and then have resort to hugging it in the middle of an active mosh pit, losing his glasses in the process. Not to mischaracterise him, he’s incredibly adept, but tell that anecdote to anyone that knows him, and they’ll respond with “that’s such an Eli thing to do”. His decisions come from the heart as much as the head, a relentless drive that has seen him make a name for himself and as part of the RGB & Friends design team.

After just a few minutes with him, it’s clear that he has a profound, almost spiritual connection with the camera lens. “For me, when I’m taking photos, I’m really in the zone, I black out, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just looking through, composing myself, snap it, move onto the next thing, because I shot on film so I don’t have to worry about looking at the image right after taking it. So it’s all about the human connection with the subject, and making them feel comfortable, showing them in their best light, but when I’m taking the photos, there’s no thought process. Your hands and your eyes do it, and then you have something at the end of it. I always try to make it authentic and capture something real in each person. It’s about capturing everything that’s not in the frame, and the essence of the person. Make it so you’re looking through a portal into a new world.”

As we speak in preparation for the night’s event, his words ooze confidence. This should be no surprise considering that during the summer, he became part of the design team for Ghetts’ album, Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament.

The event in question was revealed to be a gathering confounded to showcase the work these boys are conducting, dubbed NIGHTS: Summer’s Over. It looked to be the mould of a movie night, fitting for a collective of virtuosos specialising in both forms of image, still and motion. These events hinge on the products that they make, be it short films, music videos, photography or magazines. Tonight saw all of these collide, with an exhibition spun from the web of the family washing line, a movie screening using a home projector. It is a perfect facet of the DIY manifesto that sees many underground movements impact the wider cultural landscape. That they harness this passion-fueled philosophy means that their events have a homely but zealous aura, one that will propel this collective to bigger things.

Flynn Wallen is the musical guest for the first edition of NIGHTS, and they plan to have more artists and creatives guest their platform. Eli explained that they will begin with artists he has close connections with, starting within the family, then “from there we are able to have submissions and showcase other artists for our platform and help people grow.”

The event is a reasonable £3 entry, with an option to buy a magazine that the boys have printed onto square-shaped, high-gloss paper. It chronicles their travels to London, Copenhagen and even South Africa, though they do not view it as the focal point of the event. The magazine accessorizes their well-managed Instagram page, being a physical integration of their photography and design work. That, in turn, accessorizes the social events, their main production. RGB are linking the physical with the digital, and using physical media to promote themselves in the digital and real world. It’s a refreshing approach that allows them to create memorable experiences for their followers, and spread the word about what they aim to achieve.

Only three names make up RGB in an official capacity, despite their already impressive set of affiliates: himself, and brothers Sean and Simon Dendere. RGB are a tight-knit family rather than a sprawl of creatives, as Eli confirms, “we’ve been friends for ages, it’s a family thing really.” Of course, their collaborators and partners are also part of the outer mantle of the RGB family, but these three represent the creative nucleus of the name. That namesake, in fact, is just as purposeful as the products they make; “Everything that you see on your screen is processed through RGB, Red Green & Blue colours, and that’s the entire point of it, to transition from online to physical.”

We get talking about the magazine aspect of the project, with Eli explaining the origin of the print. The trio captured their journey to Denmark and South Africa, the zine being a publication to relive this time. Perhaps someday, they will produce an issue focusing on these NIGHTS events, because save from a few blemishes, the night was a perfect social celebration for the collective and what they had made so far.

“When I’m taking photos, I black out.”

Foremost in the magazine in terms of content came from the expeditions the trio embarked on, one of which was Copenhagen, its distinctive fashion scene and blossoming photography field. Eli describes to me the annual summer fair held at the Charlottenburg Museum that houses upcycled structures, art exhibitions, free thinkers showcasing their creations and ideas. Add to this the cultivated town of Humlebæk, and these three were racing with a joint expressive buzz that led to them finding inspiration in the form of RGB; a large piece of the magazine’s content stems from Copenhagen. South Africa was similarly educational, bolstered by the remnants of apartheid that still inhabit the landscape, one morsel of which the three visited. “There’s a place called Ocean’s View, that’s nowhere near an ocean, and the history behind that is that they moved when apartheid happened, the people that were living on the coast were kicked out of their houses and put into slums, and they renamed it Ocean’s View just to take the piss. And towards the end of the trip, we started to see the scene in South Africa, we saw people with dyed hair and stuff-”

At this point, fellow RGB member Simon joined in to explain the majesty of the country. “It’s amazing. You feel like they don’t express themselves much, but you go to South Africa and people are just as crazy as anything, their arts, the museums we went to, the Norval Foundation and Constantia, that was amazing. The [Johannesburg] CBD district, we went to the market as well, and there were loads of people doing crazy stuff-”

Eli: “And yeah, people doing their own thing, starting from the bottom. It’s like Camden, but it only shows up at nighttime. You have to find the scene, if you just walk around as a tourist, you won’t find the scene. You have to hunt for it.”

Once mentioning the topic of inspirations to him, Eli unloaded a round of influences, from all sides of artistic expression. Savants in typography, RGB look to inject their own flair into the art form and look towards Scandinavian approaches to design, people like Arne Jacobsen and Bruno Mathsson. An Austro-Hungarian photographer by the name of Weegee was a particular point of interest, and how his photos from the 30s look so modern, with pristine lighting and clarity. More names came gushing out - the “beautiful colour-work” of Petra Collins, the striking street photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Nan Goldin’s innate ability to “capture the humanity of people.” Spiralling from this came the war documentation of Roger Fenton, the soft-focus portraits of Julia Margaret Cameron; Eli clearly resonated with high-octane emotions distilled into a picture frame.

“It’s all about the human connection with the subject.”

After exploring the vast emporium of inspirations that have unfolded his art form, Eli moves on to tell me how he met two important faces through luck of timing. “I’m coming through Liverpool Street to head to Shoreditch, to the Ace Hotel, where we were having a party. I ran into this Australian dude called Sebastian. He’s sat there with two skateboards on his set of wheels, bit weird, so I started talking to him. Then his girlfriend, Maya, comes over, they’re proper filmmakers, photographers, just like me. We get chatting, then head over to Ace Hotel, and all that timing, the way it works out, as I come out, I bump into Denzel Himself. I happened to snap his portrait, and get his manager’s details for future work. And then, when I get into the Hotel, I meet one of my favourite photographers, she’s just sat there, chilling, Olivia Rose, she takes loads of photos with the grime guys. The timing worked out just crazy.”

Fate has a knack for putting Eli in special positions, and it’s just as fortunate that he is the type of person to take opportunities big and small. The dude has a talent for establishing connections out of the blue - after all, just a week before meeting Denzel and Olivia, he was shooting none other than Ghetts.

The opportunity to work with the grime veteran materialised when Eli took a few promo shots for solo emcee Joseph Bernard “he happened to show the photos to a lady called Misha Meghna. Misha Meghna was one of the creative directors of the entire Ghetto Gospel: New Testament album. So, she loved the photos and then asked me to come on board. All through Joseph, so shoutout to him.” For a frame of reference, the initial shooting day was June 25th 2018, just three days after Eli’s A-level maths exam, highlighting simply how early on in not just his career, but life, he is getting to meet incredible people.

Eli ended up working on not only stills for the album booklet, but collage designs in the booklet, CD cover, billboards, invites, posters - he became a huge presence in its art direction. To cap off what many would consider the greatest work experience for a young photographer, he got to sit fornenst the man himself, leading Eli to his family home and favourite chicken spot, which showed a different side to the Plaistow native:

“You know how Ghetts is known for fairing up in anger sometimes? He had one of those. We were in a chicken shop, called “Favourites”, and bossman wouldn’t let him take pictures in the chicken shop, he’s like “don’t get the prices in the chicken shop”. Ghetts said “look yeah, I’m gonna be real with you. On a business ting, this is probably the worst decision you’ve ever made in your life. Just by people seeing me in this shop, your customers are gonna come in like crazy.” He was going off on bossman, bossman was like “I’m not the manager, I can’t decide”, but got the photos anyway. Apart from that, he was really chill.”

As much as Ghetts can be unsparing, he is nothing if not grateful, and makes sure to greet and bless everyone that works with him. This positive attitude is what may have led to such an evocative shoot. “For me, since I hadn’t been listening to Ghetts very often beforehand, I didn’t really know what to expect, so I just captured him in the best way I could.” This fresh take led to an artist looking rejuvenated, as Joseph Bernard’s older brother - a hallucinogenic R&B artist by the name of Haich - told him shortly after the shoot: “without knowing, you’ve been able to capture him in sort of an authentic, yardie sort of way”. Eli reproduced Ghetts as the elder he is in the context of the scene, no longer a youngen, but grime royalty, a tone that neatly suited the album.

While I could end this feature with a corny line like “who knows what the future holds for this young talent”, but the truth is, Eli knows exactly what’s coming. Short films, collaborations, music videos shot in Super 8 film, for Eli and RGB, “it’s more of a when, specifically when it suits the timeline to put these things out, we’ve got a few things in the stash.” However, considering his confidence and prowess, it is certain that he will continue to surprise even himself.

If you walk around as a tourist, you won’t find the scene. You have to hunt for it.”