Leica Gallery London hosts Jocelyn Bain Hogg’s early work, The Firm

Initially beginning the work in 1997, Jocelyn Bain Hogg’s images remained unseen for decades. The prints seen in ‘The Firm’ have been pulled directly from his yellow and black Kodak boxes which is where he kept the original works since the story was taken from negative to physical form by Bain Hogg himself.

“Do not judge your subjects but be interested by them. Allow them to “speak” through the pictures.”

Beginning his career as a unit photographer on film sets, Bain Hogg shot publicity campaigns for the BBC, going on to work on numerous commercial and editorial projects. Some key credits include Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair and The Independent. As well as publications, Bain Hogg has authored 7 books: his most famous being ‘The Family, Idols + Believers’ and ‘A British Entertainment’. He is a member of VII, the international journalistic photo agency.

‘The Firm’ was born off the back of an editorial assignment given to Bain Hogg from British Elle. He was sent to photograph a journalist who was interviewing two known local villains and got talking to one of his subjects about the intricacies of the father and son relationship. The pair bonded over common ground, spending the night talking in a Soho club – whiskey flowing.

It didn’t take him long to realise that the more time spent photographing the Villains, the more integrated into their secret and frightening world he became. Despite this, when the Villain asked if he could photograph them further, Bain Hogg pitched an exclusive document of the British Crime world to Japanese GQ for a feature. It only took a month to shoot the commission, however Bain Hogg continued to capture the seedy, criminal activity for 3 more years, leading to the completion of ‘The Firm’.

This became some of Bain Hogg’s most successful work, and he believes that is down to one thing: “I never lied to them,” he said. “[I] made it clear I didn’t want to photograph their own presentation – no posed pictures and no complicity.”

He spent a lot of time with the pair, getting to know and learn about them and their world in great depth. “I realised that they actually enjoy being presented in this hard, real way.”

The exhibition will run from the 11th of July until the 3rd of September 2026 at the Leica Gallery, London.