Take a trip to a bygone era in this week’s Clips, courtesy of Henry Head.
Despite its superior quality, Henry Head’s videography began somewhat on a whim. With a newly-bought Super 8, the now 28 year-old spent a spring day in 2019 shooting his mates as they skated and rode motorcycles, and the rest was history. “Getting the footage back from the lab in all its grainy, washed-out glory lit a fire in me and I haven’t stopped making videos since,” Henry says.
Skating is a throughline of Henry’s reels, which often chase a bunch of meandering boards as they coast off to sunny retreats. He counts the sport as one of his key inspirations, and it was through skateboarding that Henry scored his first-ever gig, filming material for a skate company on a borrowed camera. “I made a video for Path Skate Shop featuring some Arkansas homies enjoying a perfect summer day. I borrowed a friend’s Canon 518, popped a cartridge in and went for it,” Henry says.
While Henry’s skate-centred work is enough to get even the most novice of us in halfpipe, he’s more recently focussed his efforts on music, a creative scene which offered his first paid work in 2019. Shot in all the same timeworn glory as his late afternoon adventures, his music videos give visual aid to soft-rock upstarts like Jared Henry and long-time collaborator Louie Lambo.
It’s when backed by the strums of a guitar that the nostalgia of Henry’s work shines even brighter, and he looks back on his role as a music video director as one of his fondest experiences. “This summer I spent a week in LA with [Louie Lambo], filming a music video for his first single. We spent 4 days adventuring around LA, skating, hiking, jumping in the ocean, going to the fair, getting into all kinds of mischief, and then spent a couple days shooting him in the studio,” Henry says.
Henry further added to the diversity of his portfolio with credits on Cheatin’ Snakes, an apparel company that tasked him with visualising their 2021 collection. Maintaining his blend of skate culture-meets-daydream, Henry even helped devise a storyline for the promo video, an experience he counts as one of the most exciting. “We based the shoot loosely around the relationship of two brother; one a skateboarder and the other a tattoo artist. [There’s] A lot of great mischief in that one.”
While Henry’s work traces him everywhere from corporate worlds to music video sets, there’s a consistency to his style. Like any great director, he’s created a distinct visual signature, one where the sheen of 35mm gives everything the quality of a not-so-distant memory. “I’m always doing my best to make videos that feel like a dream or an era bygone,” Henry says.
Outside of his own work, Henry counts visually-striking films like Blade Runner 2049 and The Lighthouse as key inspirations, and it’s these fictional worlds that he aims to replicate in his own videography. “In my mind, it feels like I’m blurring the lines of reality and fiction as I capture the person I’m shooting both as they are, and how I want them to be perceived,” he says.
“Whether I’m shooting friends skating a ditch spot or working on a music video, My favourite thing to try to capture is the atmosphere of a moment.”
Peep Henry’s complete reel below, and head here to follow him on Instagram.
