Photographers talk a lot about the technical side of things, the attention to and analysis of composition, and the quality of light. I can jostle along with that, but for me, hands down, it’s the people.  There’s a saying on my side of the lens: “Beginners think it’s about the camera, enthusiasts think it's about lenses, photographers know it's about light.”

In my view, there’s a fourth part to that summed up by Edward Steichen, a pioneering photographer who is attributed as the first modern fashion photographer, with his photos published in Art et Decoration in 1911, “A portrait is not made in camera but on either side of it”.  It’s an elegant way to say you as the subject, collaborate with the photographer, it’s a creative partnership, and that's the fourth part: “I know it’s about you"

I might be photographing you, your business, your story, but it’s all a collaboration, a partnership to make for you images that blend with, promote, showcase and visually talk about who you are and what you do for your customers and clients.

For me, the best part of being a photographer is the people I meet, talk with, learn from, laugh with and make photos. I’ve been shooting people for nearly 20 years often alongside aspects of their business. I’ve not always been a photographer, having started working life as an estate agent and journeyed through starting a mail order business for toys, then through a plant nursery, TV & film acting, a building product start-up and a few other things sprinkled around. Personally? Married 33 years and still going, two grown daughters making their way in the world, a lifelong love of films, books, coffee, weird agendas and a healthy drop of bourbon! 

I suspect now that I’ll be photographing people and businesses, telling their stories until old age puts the lens cap on for me; I think I shall always want that partnership for making photos.