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About Michael Wharley

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Studio: 07961 068759
michaelwharley@michaelwharley.com

Rep in UK: Karen & Peter at Agent at Large
Email // Phone: 07771 941 315

Rep in USA: Jackie at Tugboat
Email // Phone: +1 646 250 03158

Originally from Hull, Michael studied English Literature at Oxford University & was an actor for six years before moving behind the camera in 2010.

He brought with him a keen eye for story & a flair for the dramatic.

Today, he is sought after in the entertainment world for his bold, energetic, cinematic images that create striking key art & promotional imagery for high-profile campaigns across the UK & beyond.

Clients like Amazon Prime, Warner Bros, eOne, Netflix, Disney & Embankment – plus a raft of leading West End & UK theatre producers – trust him to work easily with actors like Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Zooey Deschanel, Jim Broadbent, David Oyelowo, Emma Mackey, Gugu Mbatha Raw & more.

His characterful portrait style means he is regularly commissioned to shoot musicians, artists, actors, celebrities & beyond; with his work appearing in publications like The Times Magazine, The Guardian, Grazia, The Observer, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

His award-winning personal projects often trace the connections between people & place: how a love of green spaces defines our contemporary Englishness, how a group of young classical musicians relate to the history of Brixton.

Increasingly, he combines this experience to tell the stories of brands like Mastercard or agencies like Craft in their campaigns.

He brings warmth, creativity, a craftsman’s expertise & unflappable calm to set, whether on the side of a mountain, in a stripped-back, studio portrait shoot or amidst a full-scale, complex production.

He lives in Brixton with his screenwriter/director partner, a small cocker spaniel called Newt & a functioning caffeine addiction. He can often be found playing trumpet and drums (not at the same time) in several bands.

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Awards & Memberships

AOP member. Fellow of the BIPP

Silver Winner, LifeStyle Category AOP Awards 2024

Lurzers 200 Best Ad Photographers 2023-4

Winner, Advertising Category Spotlight Awards 2022

Gold Winner, Documentary Category, AOP Awards 2022.

Portrait of Britain 2021

Lurzers 200 Best Ad Photographers 2021-22

Portrait of Britain 2020 Winner

Advertising winner in the Spotlight Awards 2020

Gold in Portraiture & Photographer of the Year at BIPP Awards 2018

Select Clients

Craft McCann, Mastercard, Embankment Film, Amazon Prime, Warner Brothers, Netflix, Disney, Audible, eOne, Lionsgate, Sky/HBO, Mischief (Goes Wrong Shows), Kaleidoscope Film, Signature, Decca Records, The Creative Partnership, A.K.A, Dewynters, Sonia Friedman Productions, The Bridge Theatre, The Young Vic, Fiery Angel, Penguin, Samuel French Publishing, Oberon Books.

Michael Wharley Portrait
Michael Wharley on set

Behind the scenes

Mebrakh Houghton-Johnson, Brixton Market, Electric Avenue: Immortalised in the Eddy Grant song that hymns the 1981 Riots, Electric Avenue was the first UK street to be lit by electric power and once boasted Victorian-era glass and steel canopies that ran its whole length, sadly lost in the 80s. Today, it is the beating heart of Brixton, with a daily market providing every kind of African, Caribbean, South American and Asian foodstuff and product, and more characters than you can count. It is rarely quiet and Mebrakh went (almost) entirely unnoticed as he played.
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