In the summer of 2017, the Guardian Magazine’s picture editor commissioned me to shoot portraits of Russell Brand. He was then in the process of publicising a new book, Recovery, and my pictures would be used alongside an interview with him by journalist Miranda Sawyer.
At the time, I was a big fan of Brand and was excited to get the chance to meet and photograph him. I hadn’t been particularly drawn to his earlier incarnation, as the host of -related TV programmes. However, he had completely reconfigured the way he was