Tom Sheehan first saw the young Paul Weller on stage with The Jam at the Finsbury Park Rainbow in May 1977. Unfortunately, on this day he didn’t take any pictures of the relative newcomers, as he was there to shoot the headliners, The Clash.
Tom finally got the chance to document The Jam the following year for Melody Maker and he would continue photographing Weller throughout the next 5 decades.
Whilst shooting Weller for the front cover of Mojo Magazine last year, Paul reminisced with Tom about how many times he must have photographed him: “You should do a book” Paul said.
And so he did.
Flood Gallery Publishing is proud to announce a new book featuring the work of celebrated photographer Tom Sheehan. ‘AIM HIGH - Paul Weller in photographs from 1978-2015’ is a lovingly created and beautifully packaged book featuring the best of Tom Sheehan’s photographs of Paul Weller, from The Jam, through to the Style Council and up until present day. With many unseen-before photos and a forward written by Paul Weller himself, “Aim High” is a fascinating 240 page documentation spanning all stages of Weller’s astonishing career.
“I’ve always admired Paul because he’s not a lazy guy is he?” says Tom. “If I ever feel lazy I think of people like him who never stop and pull myself together. He never lets the grass grow under his feet and I find that very endearing and exciting in someone who’s been doing it such a long time.”
Paul Weller has penned the introduction to the book and says ”I love working with Tommy” “I can’t believe just how many sessions we have done together and over 5 decades….enjoy the work of a great photographer and man”
The book is arranged in 3 chapters and introduced by an essay from music journalist Simon Goddard covering, in chronological order, The Jam, Style Council and Solo years.
There will be two limited edition versions: Deluxe and Super Deluxe. Deluxe features the 240 page book in hardcover slip case. Super Deluxe will be a limited edition of 500 in pearlescent hard slip-case which includes 3 unique photos from Tom’s archives with a bound-in certificate of authenticity signed and numbered by Tom Sheehan himself.
Every photograph has been carefully scanned and re-touched to produce the images in their glorious best and every element of this Deluxe book will be produced to the highest specification.
The Flood Gallery says…”It has been a pleasure working with Tom over several months to bring this project to the fans. We are all delighted with the final result. It is not often that a photographer has such a long working relationship with such an iconic figure and as result we are sure all Paul Weller fans will enjoy this wonderful book”
From 24th March, the book will be exclusively available to pre-order at www.thefloodgallery.com and Pledge Music http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/tomsheehan and released on 30th May.
There will be a launch/signing evening at the Flood Gallery on Thursday 26th May. All welcome
AIM HIGH
Paul Weller In Photographs 1978 – 2015
By Tom Sheehan
With forward by Paul Weller
