My Bio
Just one of those moments on a shoot! The model was paid lots of money!
First of all Im not going to write about myself in the third person. I can never figure out why people do that! This is my site and I want to say how it is and how I see myself.
I’ve been taking pictures a few years now when I first picked up a camera and took photos of the cool girl in school. However I was only 8 at the time and she often ran a mile when she saw me coming. I ended up running the school darkroom and spent many hours in the dark processing films and printing those black and white 5×4 pictures with little white frames around them. Whilst photography was always there in the background I spent some time as an architect and got bored, then I went into the design industry and got bored, I then got into the print industry and after a short time I got bored. So when I was offered the opportunity to travel in 90s I took chance and left the UK and spent eight years on the road traveling the world learning my skills as a people photographer visiting as many places as I could with a camera over my shoulder. Somehow I never got bored!
I was one of the early adopters of digital photography picking up a Nikon E2N 1.3 megapixel camera in 1996 which was great as I never had to go back into the darkroom however it was to take another 4 years until the world was ready for full digital being one of the early photographers in London to be published purely from digital files from a Nikon D1X and a six page spread. Mind you that wasn’t without its own difficulties, the magazine color re-pro guys did everything in their power to sabotage the files to make them look poor quality so they wouldn’t lose their jobs from scanning the negatives! The thing is I was on too them as unknowing to them I had spent a few years working in the print industry so I knew what they were up to and got them to correct the job before it went to print!
Now 2011 and 10 digital cameras later I now shoot on my preferred Contax 645 and digital back and current good Nikon cameras (D700s). My main aim in life is to create the lightest camera kit available so I can sail through airports with out the hassle. Its one of my personal challenges!
Ive never been inspired by great photographers only great photography no matter who it was shot by. I have my own personal collection of great images harvested from the net which inspire me to do better. Being a great believer in “being original is not disclosing where you first saw it” I have many little ideas tucked away until the right shoot with the right person when they can pop out and be exploited.
Im known for the calm atmosphere I bring to my shoots as I personally dislike conflict and I know my job is to be the photographer, negotiator, diplomat. Somebody who is supposed to stay calm when the shoot is all going wrong and models are scrapping! If all models want world peace…..how come they always fight?
I shoot quick and fast and get rid of unnecessary people on a photoshoot as I feel its distracting. My lights are plotted out in my head and so I always know where to position the subject and how the lights are going to effect the shot in the final image. I do enjoy shooting guerilla style as its unpredictable and you can be more experimental. I dislike shooting tethered as it takes away the energy from the shoot as thats why I’ve been hired in the first place as I know what Im shooting. Shooting tethered slows you down and when the client sees the shot they like they always want you to shoot more so wasting time and money by over shooting. Ive never been able to figure that one out. You’ve got the shot in the can so why shoot more!!! Its my camera Go away!
My studio “PoutStudios” established in central London in 2003 and is a stones throw away from St Paul’s cathedral. Its always busy with people. Its my personal workspace where I collect my various lights and props gathered from over the years from different shoots. It can get a little cluttered sometimes but that forces me to every so often have a clear out. I also live at my studio which helps.
Having shot everything from celebrity weddings, portraits, magazine spreads, dinner parties, adventure trips to hanging out of airplanes and the front end of powerboats to get “that” shot and adding to the mix shooting quite a bit of commercial editorial and glamourtorial has left me in good running to cater for any surprises. I like the challenge and find by not just restricting myself to just one kind of photography I’m very experienced to cater for most events and photographic challenges thrown in my direction.
I plan to be doing this as long as I can hold a camera! The thing about this job is that you never know what is going to happen next! And when you think nothing is going to happen it usually does!
If you want anything just call and here is my number UK 07748651830
