ARTIST | PHOTOGRAPHER | DESIGNER
My roving camera is my primary tool. Photoshop my darkroom. The magic happens long after the shot is taken and the moment captured when I begin to manipulate and compose new worlds as yet unimagined.
The title of this site is - EVERYTHING IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS. For good reason. My intention is to subvert reality, not just record it. And the built environment offers endless opportunities for fun, to do just that. Welcome to my topsy-turvy world.
In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (sanbōin), specifically impermanence (mujō), suffering (ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (kū). Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenious integrity of natural objects and processes.
I guess as an obsessive image maker its inevitable I would use my graphic training too - to create patterns, illustrations and paintings. Why not? It’s fun. If you enjoy them too it’s a double bonus for me.
They say travel broadens the mind. I say it adds a lot to my long, long list of images to edit. Whilst I am getting around to it, here are a few to keep you amused. Bon Voyage! as they say.
I travel, but I don’t take selfies. Unless it’s of my shoes, in an interesting location, which allows me the opportunity to lay claim to that little patch of earth for just a minute. Yes I was there - in the end, vanity defeats us all. I like reflections too, especially the way mirrors or reflective surfaces distort the image. I include those distorted selfies here too.
The first subject most of us photograph is ourselves or our family. People are endlessly fascinating. Whilst I would not claim to be a portrait photographer, I love capturing all of the diversity of human life.
Ever since I discovered life-drawing at art school I have been fascinated by the human body. I love its expressive possibilities and the vulnerability so evident between skin and bone. I have drawn the human figure for over 30 years. And I adore it. But more than that, far more than that I wanted to make images that celebrated EVERY BODY. The fat, the thin, the scarred, the smooth, the beautiful and the less beautiful - I wanted to make images that allowed everyone to be heroic in their own self-image. I wanted to tackle issues of body dysmorphia and low self-image. I wanted for everyone to be able to feel good about themselves, by seeing themselves through my eyes. This is a small selection of the 700+ people I have had the privilege to photograph over the years.
Pushing imagery to the limit - aiming for a sculptural quality
Sisters under the skin
Your every colour is beautiful
A new project that deals with the issue of skin tone and skin colour and attempts to present the issue in an artistic way
Your Every Colour is Beautiful
Your Every Colour is Beautiful
I include here photographs of other things that intrigue me but are not so easy to categorize, shadows, colours, reflections and shapes. The real tools one needs, to take a great photographs are: a critical and inquiring eye and a restless curiosity. The rest is all technique. The ubiquitous and pervasive reach of the hand-held device means we are all now ‘photographers’. That does not necessarily mean we take better photographs but its very tempting to shoot everything we see.
Why not? Its’ visual storytelling. Inspired by the love of traditional Renaissance portraits (full of symbols and hidden meaning) I wanted to create my own modern version, wherein the story is hidden in the objects pictured. Make it up as you go along.