London-based photographer working across photojournalism, music, and portraiture. Documenting people as they are, rather than a performed version of themselves.
Who I Am
I'm Ehimetalor Unuabona, though most people call me Metty. My work spans protest lines and political movements, the charged energy of live music, cultural events, brand campaigns, and editorial portraits, the thread running through all of it is the same: people, as they are, in the moment they're in.
Shooting across London and beyond, my clients range from Jubel, Block 9, and Notting Hill Carnival to music artists like Issey Cross, Tommy & Piri, and ELIZA.
Clients & Collaborators
What Is BE ICONIC
BE ICONIC exists because of where I come from as much as where I'm going. My other background is graphic design, a world where nobody asks your permission to make something, only whether you have the skill and the tools to do it. Modelling doesn't always offer that same open door.
Too often it's guarded by people who ask newcomers to pay just to prove themselves. I've seen it happen enough times to know it's wrong, and I wanted to build something in direct opposition to it, a space where nobody pays to be seen, and the only thing asked back is real effort.
The name is meant literally. The full phrase is "You were meant to BE ICONIC", a chance for anyone willing, interested, and ready to take the leap to see exactly how iconic they can look.
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London documentary & portrait photographer, available for commercial campaigns, editorial, live music, and events across London and the UK.
Bright, colourful images with strong light and shadow used to bring out real detail, the cut of an outfit or the shape of a face, rather than flattening everything with flat, even lighting. For softer, calmer shots, natural daylight takes over instead. Either way, the aim is the same: you looking like yourself in the moment, not posed or performing for the camera.
Yes, alongside portrait and editorial work, commercial campaign photography is a genuine part of the practice, with clients including Deliveroo, Balmain Paris, Burger King, Starbucks, and JW Anderson among others. That commercial experience directly shapes the portrait sessions too, an eye for what reads well to a brand or an agency, not just what looks nice.
Yes, photojournalism and documentary coverage, protest lines, political movements, cultural events like Notting Hill Carnival, sit alongside the portrait and commercial work. It's a different discipline, reacting to a real moment rather than directing one, and it's part of what shapes an instinct for authentic expression in the portrait sessions too.
Yes, live music and artist photography is a core part of the work, with clients including Issey Cross, Tommy & Piri, and ELIZA. Shooting live, unrepeatable moments under real stage conditions builds the same instinct for genuine, in-the-moment expression that carries through to portrait sessions.
Effort and real information, more than a specific look or experience level. A clear sense of who's applying, real Instagram or portfolio links, specific outfit ideas rather than a placeholder, tells far more than any single photo could. What matters is that the session is a real commitment, not who's already the most experienced.
A test shoot is often the first real, professionally-directed material an agency sees for a newer face, before there's a rate card or a booking history to go on. Done properly, it shows range, how someone performs in front of a camera, not just how they look in a single photo, which is exactly the gap between a phone photo submission and something an agency can work with.
Photography sits alongside 17 years of brand design and illustration experience, a background that shapes a commercial eye for what works for a brand or an agency, not just an aesthetic one.
Based in London, working across the city and the wider UK for commercial, editorial, live music, and event photography. The BE ICONIC portrait sessions themselves run at outdoor London locations and one studio space, both listed on the locations page.
Out of a graphic design background where nobody asks permission to make something, only whether the work holds up, and a frustration at how often modelling doesn't offer that same open door, newcomers asked to pay just to prove themselves, or taken advantage of by people who should know better. BE ICONIC exists as the opposite of that, a space where nobody pays to be seen and the only thing asked back is real effort.
