I live just within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, south of Teesside. It’s one of those liminal places where evenings experience the darkness of the moors on one side and the orange glow of city lights on the other.
I first studied photography as part of a degree in Communication Studies. I studied in an art faculty where it was obvious that all the really practical photography was done by the fine artists! We also studied art history, cinema, culture, psychology, sociology, ideology and press history. I initially worked on a taped magazine for the blind and partially-sighted, then I sold theatre and events tickets in London. Like many of us, I found myself “working in computing”, which all seemed very new in the nineteen eighties. It was fine for a few years, until I realised that my “special” knowledge was just something every young person knew anyway. I have worked as an I.T. technical author for many years.
I create images in response to ideas and projects within landscape, street/urban and portraiture. It’s as much a case of what I feel as what I see. I don’t restrict my creativity to a particular genre. For me genres are a distraction, though they are useful labels for types of photography and art.
Some of what I do is a sort of landscape-portrait-street approach. A hybrid if you like. Aware of the beauty of nature but also looking for that human story too. How does that work? Well, I see a tree as a character. I experience it as a presence though I am aware of the scientific perspective. For me, the scientific perspective is useful but it dominates our awareness far too much. It distracts from the soul, the genuine experiencing of life. I’m interested in that.