Ian Kenneth Bird, the photographer bringing London skate culture to fashion's biggest brands

Long gone are the days where skating meant a roll around in the park with your mates. Rihanna and Madonna are constantly papped dripping in Palace, most of the Kardashian klan own a Thrasher hoodie and every teenage boy worth their weight in shotta bags will happily wile away an entire weekend waiting for the next #veryrare Supreme-branded building material to drop.

It’s only logical then, that the next move for photographer Ian Kenneth Bird, who made his name through intimate portraits of the London skate scene, were not one but two high profile campaigns for fashion world heavy hitters McQ and Dior, brands which both got in touch after Ian released his book Don’t Know What I Want But I Want It Now.

Shot predominantly in black and white, allowing Ian to flex his excellent eye for portraiture, the images bring a nod of subcultural credibility via some excellent street casting to the two major brands. “I am constantly looking for and meeting new people, often shooting a portrait and keeping their details on file for later projects,” Ian tells us of his casting process. For now, the photographer has currently got his eye out for new faces, shooting portraits at his new house-turned-studio for an upcoming book, to be published later this year.