WHO?
I’m a British photographer who was born in the 60’s, grew up in the 70’s, got interested in photography in the 80’s, photographed obsessively through the 90’s, switched to film making in 2000’s and have returned to my first love in the past few years. I will be 56 in May. How did that happen?
WHERE?
I have worked mostly in the UK for the early work, then more recently I have focused shooting in my hometown. I have also been photographing in the Zanskar valley in the North West Indian Himalayas for the past 30 years on a very long-term project. Like many photographers I have an ongoing fascination with coastal resorts.
WHAT?
What I describe as my “golden period” of photography in the UK was very much about a nostalgia for a post-war Britain which was fading fast. I felt I needed to capture it all – portraits, landscapes, buildings and events. For the past10 years I photographed the small English town where I moved, as well as continuing to shoot sporadically on the streets of London. I am now eagerly awaiting the end of COVID and people coming together again so I can finish another long-term project on social gatherings.
WHEN?
I went freelance as a photographer in 1995 and have been working in that capacity on and off ever since. I took a break from photography after a bit of a burn out to explore film making in the 2000’s, shooting short documentaries and some experimental feature films. I was worried my best years were behind me – fortunately with encouragement from those around me, I now believe that the best is yet to come. Fingers crossed.
WHY?
As a kid I would wander off in shops and my parents would hide to see if I had noticed that they were no longer next to me. I was in a world of my own. Curiosity led me astray then and it leads me astray now. I am always looking to transform what is in front of me into the photographic version of itself. It is infinitely fascinating but can be very tiresome to those you love, so I now try and put specific time aside to make work.
