Well, I’m a photographer and lighting designer. I’m very lucky to have a great studio to work in, The Focal Space. I live in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, which is a great place to live. Don’t believe me? That’s because you have only seen the train station and the new town centre, which admittedly is pretty horrific. However, the rest of Stevenage is great. Take a look at a satellite image and you might get an idea for just how many little green patches there are, woods, parks, playgrounds; not to mention the huge lake that runs right down the middle. Okay, it’s not utopia, there are some dodgy bits, but there are in every large town. Anyway, I digress.
I’ve been a professional photographer for over five years and a ‘keen amateur’ since about twelve. My career began in theatre, having trained as an electrician at City of Westminster College. The aim was always to become a lighting designer, but I wanted to learn from the ground up and not try (the almost impossible task of) jumping straight in as a “creative”. So over the years I’ve done most technical theatre jobs to a greater or lesser extent. Starting as a ubiquitous ‘stage crew’ in the West End and then bouncing around for a bit as a flyman, swing crew, stage electrician and so on. After having gone properly freelance I started moving in the direction of production electrician, re-lighter and then production manager whilst picking up bits of lighting design here and there.
Photography for me has always been simply an variation of lighting design. Becoming a professional photographer just sort of happened. People just asked if they could buy my images or employ me on a commissions and that was that. The split between lighting design and photography used to be about fifty fifty; though that has changed relatively recently with the acquisition of my studio, which has inevitably shifted the balance a bit more in the photography direction.
Outside of work I like photography, no, hang on, that’s work; I’ve always been a reader, both fiction and non-fiction, and I’m a big fan of the cinema, plus theatre, obviously, particularly dance. Favourite holidays usually involve mountains or narrow boats.
Well, that’s about it.