On September 18 and till the end of October 2007 Pobeda Gallery is showing to the public the sensational project of Jocelyn bain Hogg - "The Firm". During 4 years he photographed London gangsters, the criminals from the London's East End, The Fim. Bain Hogg's idea to talk about the English Underworld isn't new. Since back in the 60s the Krais Family, one of the Firm pillars, a criminal organization, rose to the glossy and glamorous Vogue's pages.

Jocelyn quickly understand that there's an entire unknown world behind this man, a hidden society many people have heard about but that only a few had a chance to peep in. "The project grew on its own. I'm a photo reporter, and while chatting, drinking and having fun I took pictures and told the life of these criminals."

In The Firm, the book and the exhibition, all the images are in B&W, like the life of the people represented. Bain Hogg put together different strong shots of gangsters, night club dancers, bare knuckle fighters, eclectic horse-drawn hearse funerals, diamonds and brass knuckles and lace shirts. Only a part of photos from the project are exhibited in Moscow, the complete overview of The Firm life is given in a same-namebook, which you can buy in Pobeda Gallery bookshop.

On september 19 Jocelyn Bain Hogg gave an open lecture on the topic - "How to shoot the life of gangsters". His lecture was based on the photographs he did shooting "The Firm". More than 200 people came to listen Hogg's story. Bernie - one of the Firm members - was the guest star of the open lecture. Everybody was waiting to hear the secrets of such a successful story revealed. But Jocelyn stressed the attention of the audience that he doesn't assume this topic and the whole gangsters' world he had seen as a glamorous and fashion one. The photographer inside this world is facing danger everyday, making hard choices on moral issues and always thinking about your aim in showing this underworld to the public.

He talked little about technology, more about the philosophy of the project with respect to the heroes, their black and white rules of life. Certainly, Hogg did not answer all the questions, not all secrets revealed, but the main goal was achieved, he shared with us his unusual experience, made us to think about the many problems which we often do not notice or avoid in everyday life.

The open lecture was organised by Prolab as a part of the photographic workshops project - "School of success", with the help of Pobeda Gallery and Rodchenko School of photography and multimedia.

Jocelyn Bain Hogg

Jocelyn Bain Hogg began his career as a unit photographer on movie sets after studying Documentary Photography at Newport Art College. He shot publicity for the BBC, photographed fashion and now works on documentary projects and commercial and editorial assignments. His work has been seen in numerous publications including Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, the Sunday Times, The Independent, The Observer, Elle, Marie Claire, Stern, GQ, Esquire, Le Monde and La Republicca.

Jocelyn Bain Hogg is an eminent British photographer who, while working for the style magazine, Scene, was assigned to document the media frenzy surrounding the death and funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. He is currently a visiting lecturer on the MA photojournalism course at the London College of Communication.

Recent Exhibitions: Pobeda Gallery in Moscow was exhibiting The Firm until the end of October 2007. Twenty One of his selected B/W and Color photos were exhibited in New York City at Gramercy 32 Fine Arts gallery in association with Kodak in November 2006. Gramercy 32 Fine Arts gallery also exhibited Jocelyn Bain Hogg’s photography at Miami Basel 2006 in association with Kodak and Napapijri.

Publications: 2006 Idols + Believers/Idolatrisme (French edition) published by Editions Intervalles, France, Launches in London- Paris- New York- Miami FL .
2001 The Firm published by Westzone. A second edition was published in paperback by Trolley in 2003, The Firm won international acclaim on first release and Jocelyn Bain Hogg garnered Germany’s prestigious Lead Award for portraiture in 2003.
2000 Places to Go, People to See published by Mother. Inclusion of ten photographs in this contemporary photography collection.

Since The Firm is published, Jocelyn Bain Hogg is not considering going back to fashion to pay his bills. He has a couple of new projects that he is working on. The first one is about daily life in London and the second one is on women, the sweetness of women. "I don't think I'll invent a new way to pictures women, but I'd like to talk about them and their lives. If I approach them close enough, which I proved I can do very well, soon you'll see something about women that you never realized existed. And from the intimacy of the picture you'll recognize an authentic Bain Hogg".