Johnny Thornton

As Johnny Thornton recounts, "This image was shot at Snr Alphonso Libano's beach villa in Menorca; the idea of a girl with jewellery in a Titanic life ring is self-explanatory. This was seen by Smirnoff and I returned to Menorca to shoot it again this time holding a cocktail. When this was turned into a 48 sheet poster, it received loads of publicity most of it saying "It was in bad taste", as they say, "Any publicity is good publicity"."

As Johnny Thornton recounts, "Another image from my "Stuffed Animal" period, the dog came from the Camden Town based taxidermist Edward Gerrard & Sons. I love the fierce animal that of nightmares, the leash was display lights and Tommy produced the outline with torch in a black studio after shooting on electric flash. It was in the days of craft I often came up with the ideas and then had to work out a way to produce the image."

As Johnny Thornton recounts, "I was given a grant by The Polaroid Corporation to produce some images I gained my influence from the paintings by Paul Delvaux, Magritte and the Los Angeles pool paints by David Hockney. As I say, "I don't take photographs, I make photographs", so the wall was constructed over a swimming pool in a naturist indoor pool in Wrotham Heath in Kent. Then a scaffold was built to span the pool and wall which would support me. So I was uncomfortably positioned shooting straight down, had the flash lighting fallen into the pool, the model, Nicky Howarth Dwek would be "Brown Dead"."

This photograph was shot in Tom Lowry's studio behind the Woodman Pub in Battersea. As Thornton recounts, "I asked an old mate in film for a couple of film cans and some lengths of 35mm film strip. The idea was to marry film and still photography. We made the film can into a hat and used a fishing line to float the 35mm film before we lit the shot with a 'Fish Fryer' strobe light made locally by the famous lighting engineers David Cecil and John Leach." The affect of the work in its elegant surrealism recalls the work of Dali, Thornton's hero.

As Johnny Thornton recounts, "I was shooting a job for Benson & Hedges in Phoenix, it was the days of the death of the drive in which was a place for sexual encounters for those of my age group, the drive in was found by Mike McGin, my location scout. The girl was a dancer in a men's club, the cow chair and the other props where at the production office. I had thought about putting something on the screen which would have meant manipulation and using Polarpan would be almost impossible, so I went with the blank screen."

As Johnny Thornton recounts, "Nicky Howarth Dwek and I went to Wiltshire as a friend had a cottage on The Easton Grey House Estate owned by Peter Saunders. We wandered down by the Avon River that flows through the estate and found this deserted mill, within which was a room, the walls of which where covered in peeling paint, the only thing inside was an old rickety chair. I had taken with me a pair of mannequin's hands, a pair of stockings and a bust of Beethoven - the sort of things that one typically takes on a bucolic walk, so the image really did happen down by the old millstream."

This photograph of Deborah Vaughan was taken at Thornton's flat in Hyde Park Mansions. Equal parts provocative, surreal and erotic, the image captures Thornton at the height of his daring powers. Thornton's work has been praised by critics and thrown out by ad agencies - labelled 'too weird'. Thornton has the last laugh though - his series 'Surreal, Erotic Images' toured internationally to over 10 major cities. Sat in a dentist's chair, the half-naked model takes up the role of patient.

"I had seen a copy of the Mae West Lips sofa that Dali was commissioned to produce by Edward James", Johnny Thornton recounts, "Edward was a passionate and early supporter of surrealism and provided practical support to Dali for about two years and allowed Magritte to stay in his London house to paint. He then went on to build 'Las Pozas' which comprised scores of surreal concrete structures set in more than 80 acres in the Mexican rain forest which was built at a cost of more than $5 million between 1949 and 1984. To pay for it, he sold his collection of surrealist art. The image depicts my love of my then girlfriend Alex, who was to become my wife, however it tells its own story with the red letter by a heart and a picture frame with a ripped photograph. I have always said "If you can make people stop and wonder what is going on, the image gains another dimension"."

Crucify, "To mortify, to punish (one's body) or control (one's physical desires and passions) or subdue (the flesh)".

As Johnny Thornton recounts, "The thought of semi naked vampish woman on a cross just came to me then I decided to have a wild sky with the sun breaking through. This was painted by Gordon Aldred who went on to be the scenic artist on The Lion King, Shrek the musical and a host of other stage productions."