My interest in photography didn’t get off to a great start. Aged 13, on our first family holiday abroad, I convinced my Dad to lend me his camera. It was round my neck for the whole holiday. At the airport on the way home, I stopped to do up my shoelace, hung the camera on a railing, tied my lace, and walked away...the camera was never seen again.
Once I could afford my own camera, one has regularly been around my neck, but never hung on railings, ever since.
I now work as a location manager – finding locations for filmmakers and photographers. For many the job is about logistics. For me it has always been about photography, creativity, and the people who I meet. In recent years I have been taking photos on set and when lockdown started in 2020, I decided to point my lens at the place where I live, and the people around me. This evolved into a community photography project, open to anyone who lives or works nearby, with the aim of creating an archive of photos and stories recording the lives, thoughts, and experiences of everyday people during the pandemic. It is still running with over 2500 photos submitted from over 300 local people. It has brought me countless new friendships, and deeply changed my relationship with the place where I live, and with my photography.
I now understand that a great photo is not always about the light, or framing, or exposure, or the lens, or the f-stop or...the location. Sometimes it is just about a great story. Or connection. Or honesty.
