Projects

When I’m not undertaking commissioned work, I enjoy doing my own photography projects. Some are researched first, others are spontaneous stories. I am driven by my love of meeting people, experiencing different cultures or processes and visiting new places. I’m fascinated by what people do, how they live and work.

I have always been a keen traveller, so when I go away, I look for a story that I can document. This doesn’t necessarily have to be abroad in exotic places, I’m just as happy covering local projects near where I live and around the UK as I am in India or America!

A photo essay

The joy is being able to bring together the narrative, to tell the story through the collection of images. If you take a look at my story with Pinney’s of Orford, who produce delicious smoked foods from their smokehouse, you will see how the story of this company is told. I spent two days with the owner, who gave me the history of his family owned business and took me out on the boats to check oyster nets, then back at the smokehouse showing me how they smoked freshly caught mackerel and the oysters in a very traditional way. It was an amazing two days, learning so much as well as taking photos.

Alternatively, my projects are spontaneous, mostly when I’m travelling. I might go out with my camera for the day and see what I can discover. I then bring the images together in the edit to form a story of my explorations. This was the case with my pictures taken on the streets of Mexico City.

The topics I love most are of course to do with food and the home! These can cover such a variety of stories, from oyster farming in Suffolk to a zero food waste restaurant in London, from a mid-century modern home in the mountains of Switzerland to an artist’s studio in Somerset making ceramic pots. Where possible, I like all these projects to have a human element in them too, as the personalities or activities of the people involved help to bring the story alive.

Always adventurous!

I have some crazy adventures doing my projects too. A few years ago I went to visit my cousin who at the time was living in the Alaskan town of Ketchikan. I was invited to photograph a fishing trip, where we (well, the fisherman!) landed the second largest Salmon that had been caught in in Alaska that season! At the start of the day every fish caught had to be thrown back in the sea, it was too small to keep. So Ralph, the fisherman, decided to drop the line a bit deeper. Suddenly there was an almighty tug on the line and the battle between fish and man began! The fish was so large that the boat was being spun round and round in circles. By now, all the other fishing boats in the area, mainly carrying rich Americans on paid fishing trips, were now circling us, with binoculars to their eyes, waiting to see who would win this tug of war. There were moments of calm when clearly the fish had to rest, as the movement stopped for a 30 seconds or so, but after 20 exhausting minutes Ralph pulled a Queen Salmon out of the sea, weighing 42 Kilograms! I had mixed emotions when the fish was caught. She would have been quite an old fish to get to this size, so I felt really sad that her days were over. My other emotion was exhilaration and wonderment. It was a thrilling experience.

The photographers who inspire me

My inspiration comes from great documentary photographers such as Alec Soth, Eve Arnold, Abbie Traylor-Smith, Annie Leibovitz and Tony Morrison, and you will often find me absorbed in the latest edition of National Geographic magazine!