Me & My Work: A Statement of Sorts
 The camera always lies and [thankfully] Jim didn't fix it for me to be a photographer. It just kind of happened after graduating from a first rate university with a second rate degree in Social Anthropology; a fascinating if rather frustrating, subject . Ok that's not quite accurate, but everyone needs to grab the reader's attention , right even if it's at the expense of a little untruth. Something I try to replicate with my photography – not to lie outright, but rather manipulate, to seduce the viewer with the superficial eye-catching, mesmeric properties of the picture the better to hold onto them so that they can look more deeply into and behind the image , to provoke [heaven-forbid] thinking or better still re-thinking ! . That again, isn't how it always works out when your working on commission according to someone else's agenda but with my own more personal projects that is the ultimate objective.
Currently I divide my time - as finances and nerve permits, between such personal and commissioned work. The commissioned work is for editorial and commercial use but informed in all instances by a documentary or reportage sensibility . A style or point of view that was further enriched [ after much additional hair-pulling ] by my Masters in photo-history at LCP which allowed for some fascinating research into the rather fruity UK Mass Observation project of the 1930's and 40's. Wherever possible, I try and incorporate this anthropo-documentary background into all of my work even if this is lost in the context in which much of the commissioned work appears.What does this anthropo-documentary style mean specifically? Well, in terms of my personal projects where this approach is most purely expressed, it translates as making sequences of images that offer meditations on the notion of society and how that notion imposes itself on the outside ie photographable world in terms of people's appearance, body language, tastes and consumption habits as well as the environments within which this occurs. In addition, each project attempts to incorporate some kind of reflexive element; seeking to explore the impact of the photographer on the field, the relationship between the photographer as observer and their subjects - the observed or photographed. Ideas I hasten to add, which I'm now increasingly exploring with video media.
Some time back the good people of The British Journal of Photography penned a profile of my early rise to professional photographer status. You can read it here. Comments on my work are always welcome most of the time.
| education |
BA (Hons): Social Anthropology - King's College, Cambridge University, 1991-1994
Diploma in Photojournalism - London School of Photojournalism, 1996
MA Photography: History & Culture - London College of Printing, 2001-2003 |
| clients |
A selection of tearsheets can be viewed here |
| shows |
Head Space: Photographs of
Psychotherapeutic Environments
@ The Freud Museum, London
October - December 2004
Art Space: Photographs of RA Students and
their Studios
@ The Royal Academy Café, London
May - June 2006
The ‘Stow
@ Paddock Bar, Walthamstow Greyhound
Stadium,
London
July - August 2008
Soho Portraits
@ L'Opera Quarter Members Club, London,
July - August 2009
Faizal, Whirly and Crufts Photo Films @ The Great British Public [ group show ]
The London Festival of Photography 2012 here
Dog Eared Gallery, London June 01 - 24
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