Rainbow Smile
Artist: Stereophonics
Song: Maybe Tomorrow
Album: You gotta go there to come back
Model: Roswell Ivory
Location: Chippenham, Wiltshire UK


Notes:-
I’ve felt like this song’s meaning many times during my life. I think millions feel like it every day. It’s about feeling down but not necessarily knowing why. Everything should be fine but somehow it isn’t. It’s a sort of depression but it's mild. You carry on, you ‘pretend’ things are ok and really, they are but somehow, they aren’t.

I chose the line because it sums up that feeling perfectly. You go out, pretend, pay to go somewhere where you should be feeling happy and content but still the underlying feeling persists. A ‘rainbow’ smile is the effect of alcohol or drugs. You smile but you aren’t smiling. ‘Real’ smiles are free, all free.

I’d visualised a false smile (think selfie) and took hundreds of shots capturing that but in the end, this told the story much better for me. The Richard Avedon after party Marilyn Monroe photograph is one of my (and Roswell’s it turns out) absolute favourite images of all time and this inspired us both for this shot. Simple, but you can almost feel the pain inside. The “Rainbow Smile” isn’t working.