Close calls

Photographer's exhibition lays bare high life snapping stars

- BY BILL BORROWS

A flow of hilarious anecdotes about everyone from Hollywood idols to rock'n'roll stars trip off Steve Read's tongue.

But it is the photographer's images that really do the talking, a gallery of which are on show in his new exhibition, Shooting Stars Pays The Rent.

The original art director of lads' mag Loaded, Steve's incredible pictures take viewers on a journey through the celebrity world of the late 1990s and early noughties, when he swapped commissioning photographers for taking pictures himself and rubbing shoulders with La La Land's glitterati.

One of his favourite memories comes from a photoshoot with Sharon and the late Ozzy Osbourne.