06.03.18

Rebecca Lupton

Photographer

Rebecca Lupton is a photographer, based in Manchester UK, specialising in portraiture and social documentary.

What role does music play in your day-to-day life as a creative?

There’s always some sort of soundtrack accompanying life at home, at work, in the car and with my family: something ‘frantic’ from my husband’s record collection, or a playlist from my kids (that, I’m sorry to say, ‘all sounds the same’) and occasionally, when I’m alone or when working, I get to choose.

Genre-wise, I’m not fussy—I take it all in. I’m not an especially sophisticated listener either. I can enjoy any genre of music as long as it grabs me with both hands.

The music I tend to choose to listen to grounds and calms me and helps me to get things in order; a steady, repetitive beat to sift through hundreds of practically identical images; a fragile vocal to concentrate on the finer detail of a portrait; something to warm to gently start the day; or a mighty album that can get me through a 3 hour drive to a shoot by blasting it again and again on loop. The thing I struggle with these days is the wealth of choice I have, and it can sometimes take me 20 minutes to decide what I want to listen to. I often rely on summoning up some sort of nostalgic magic, created years ago when we listened to albums, and not just songs.

Tell us about your playlist

My music taste leans towards the indulgently melancholic (syn. gloomy, grim, mournful, pensive, somber, sorrowful, trite, wistful, blue, down), but I’ve added a few ‘jolts’ of excitement in there too so you don’t fall asleep whilst listening. The majority are the songs I return to again and again, and I’ll never grow tired of, and dotted in there are some of my favourite albums from 2017: This is the Kit – Moonshine Freeze, Laura Marling – Semper Femina and Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest. And finally, Jane Weaver – her music is very special to me. I’ve known her since I first came to Manchester when she was one of the regular DJs at a bar where I worked. I was blown away when I heard her music, and I truly think she’s one of the best song writers I’ve ever come across. We’ve become friends, and I’ve been involved in the photography for her last two albums. I’m so happy for her to see that she’s getting the attention she deserves. These songs are the point where my creative career and my love of music converge.

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Hush, jolt and pacify


  1. The Fallen By Watch Bird – Jane Weaver
  2. Who Knows Where The Time Goes? – Fairport Convention
  3. Seasons (Waiting On You) – Future Islands
  4. Golden Slumbers – Remastered – The Beatles
  5. Don’t Take My Soul – Jane Weaver
  6. Jóga – Björk
  7. Deep Shadows – Little Ann
  8. Baby – Original Album – Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso
  9. Deadly Valentine – Charlotte Gainsbourg
  10. I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) – Remastered – Daryl Hall & John Oates
  11. By My Demon Eye – This Is The Kit
  12. Echo’s Answer – Broadcast
  13. Soothing – Laura Marling
  14. Não, não digas nada – Secos & Molhados