"[1] Towards the late 1980s, acid house coincided with his discovery of photography, although initially after leaving school his interest had been in fashion, especially the type influenced by music.
He has shot amongst many others, Ian Brown, Pete Doherty, The White Stripes, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, Amy Winehouse, Hollywood actress and singer Scarlett Johansson, American rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z, and Simon Cowell, British entrepreneur, music executive, television producer and celebrity In 2013, Chalkley took pictures that became the covers for the NME, including Beady Eye, Daft Punk, The Vaccines, The NME Awards 2013 and Foals.
He has, to name but a few, shot for XL Recordings, Sony, Island Records and Acid Jazz providing pictures for the following: Dizzee Rascal's Mercury Prize winning album Boy in da Corner (2003) Lily Allen's single "LDN" (2006) The Horrors' single artwork for "Gloves" (2007) New Young Pony Club's Fantastic Playroom (2007) Tinchy Stryder's Third Strike (2010) Paul Weller's album Wake Up The Nation The relaunch of Chalkley's "New Look" website in 2012 saw the inclusion of a new fashion section, clearly displaying Chalkley's extensive sartorial side.
With projects and campaigns for Hush Puppies, Ray-Ban, Beatrix Ong, Levis, New Balance, The Observer, The New British and Cath Kidston.
He has also been shooting some fashion work for client's such as Sport and Street magazine and Levi's and likes to shoot for The Observer magazine, for which he has photographed actors such as Rhys Ifans, Dominic West, Rupert Everett, Bond girl Eva Green, former model and author Sophie Dahl, Clémence Poésy in 2010, Holly Willoughby and Jack Monroe in 2014.
Chalkley DJ'ed at the Soul Casino with Si Cheeba at the Vintage New Year's Eve party at London's South Bank Centre bringing in 2014.
His short film Serge and accompanying exhibition of "emotive and graceful studies"[20] of Physical Culturists premiered at The Rex cinema and bar, in June 2005.
In 2008, Chalkley was asked to contribute some of his live images of The Horrors and Kings of Leon to the 100 Club's permanent exhibition, curated by Emily Beaver.
Later in the same year and again in early 2009, Chalkley travelled as far a field as New York City, Beijing and finally Milan to be brought together with the young stars of the contemporary music scene to advertise the re-launch of the Ray-Ban Clubmaster sunglasses.
The exhibition- a collection of studio photographs shot towards the end of last year, shows a group of sharply dressed young Mods, their attitude and their dance moves.
[21] Taking place at Quaglino's to celebrate their 21's birthday, Chalkley exhibited 21 photographs portraying the heroes and heroines from the contrmpory music scene.
The exhibition featured over 60 portraits of notable individuals that embodied the 21st Century Rudeboy[23] including the likes of Don Letts, Pauline Black, Gary Powell and more.
[25] In January 2011, a message was posted on Chalkley's official Blog requesting"Good youthful Northern Soul Dancers to feature in a short film and photographic project".
[27] A later post, by Amanda Ashed of Looks London and the Ranch Casting Company mentioned that the project would be a short film that wasn't set out to be a "definitive story of Northern Soul" but that it "does aim to celebrate it."
at the Boogaloo); Chalkley witnessed the interest of a younger generation who were interested in northern soul and not just for the short term; 'These are real people who spend all their money on this because they love it, not because it's the flavour of the month'[30] In an interview with The Guardian in July, Chalkley said about the film: "I didn't want to just recreate the past, but I did aim to produce timeless works that illustrate the culture as never before.
On the night of the private view Kent Record's Ady Croasdell, Jo Wallace, who are credited as Music Consultant's on the film DJed alongside Donna Driscoll and Chalkley himself.
– Jonny Owens[34] "[The] film... ...is seriously good in terms of the cinematography, sound, aesthetics etc., and (perfectly captured in the still photos) the dancing is so damn cool it hurts.
"- Bryony Quin, It's Nice That[35] 2000, BW & Colour, 10 mins Written and produced by Chalkley, music & sound by Geir Jenssen, edited by Suki, 2000.
A synopsis of film on Chalkley's website states: "Tension, excitement and anticipation grow, images from a previous era relate to the characters and events of the present.