There are few actors and actresses that achieve a cult following. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, but some actors and actresses have, due to who they are, or the roles they have played, managed to get followers that would go to any lengths to get images or things that relate to you. Emilia Clarke is one of those actresses. The first thing that shocks you when you do a little research on Emilia is that she’s got 26.9 million followers. Let’s put that into perspective. That’s five times the inhabitants of Norway (my home country) - or approximately as many as there are people living in Australia. Basically, If the amount of instagram followers was translated into a nation for which you ruled, then Emilia would rule a fairly decent size country.
I have worked with Emilia a couple of times and she is as down to earth and as funny as they come. So, aside from her being the Dragon Queen in Game of Thrones. (which has undoubtably got her quite a few fans), her approachable character and skills as an actress have surely been the main reason why she has gained so many followers. However, I do believe that some of the most die hard fans, some of the more ‘stalker type’ fans are amongst them, and I can imagine them to be the die hard GOT fans. So when I posted an instagram post with one image from my shoot with Emilia, I soon after received an email claiming they were from an agency (name no names) and were going to get me several of thousand pounds by selling my images to I-D magazine. They had gone to the great length of creating an email address which was almost the same as the agency’s name, for which they claimed to be contacting me from. All this so they could access some images that had not been seen before. Maybe to have on their own wall, or that they could try to create unofficial merchandise or exclusive social media material.
So, for this instance I have taken the precaution to watermark these images and only select a very few to show you. With all my work, I intend for it to see it in the best possible light, but I show these images with watermarks as I feel it’s important to share this part of the reality of a photographer and the celebrities we work with. It is the second time I have worked with Emilia - and on both instances she has been a laugh to work with. How she can maintain such a down to earth nature is a true test of character - when 26 million people follow what you do, for which a few of them will go to any lengths to get new unseen images of you.
Shot for Observer New Review
