Christmas Eve 2020

Street photography has been around since the inception of photography as a medium. It's a genre of work that I enjoy both researching and creating as it presents us with a vision of everyday life otherwise unseen and unknown. whenever I'm not working on a commission or project I like to soak up the atmosphere of my home city Manchester looking for the sights and scenes which epitomise what it means to be Mancunian.

Salford, Manchester has always been a particularly hard hit area by poverty, lack of engagement, education and general well being. However with the growth of MediaCity the area has become known for the northern hub of high earning creatives and media. Against a backdrop of the lowest national rates of life standards the idea of accessibility's blocked by the inherent financial and education struggles of the local residents.

The decisive moments, commonly associated with Henri Cartier-Bresson is the precise moment all natural occurrences intersect to form a scene of equilibrium in front gf the camera. Here the (in)Decisive Moment the scene is built from the less obvious ways our world coincides with itself.

Throughout 2020 the only opportunity to leave home was for the 1 hour exercise limit per day. in that time I decided to proactively create, to record and muse over the now strange sights of normality.

The national lockdowns in2020 lead to the weekly Clap for the NHS. A tribal act intended to unite and elevate the risk and struggle of front-line workers, with the goal of influencing the general population to follow the restrictions. Instead we saw a symbol followed for fear of public ostracisation and the true individual action of littering and abandoning the guidelines.

This collection of images was captured and collated after a recent shopping spree, of photographic books for research, revealed various types of messages, items and notations within used copies of the titles I bought. Each one a little peek into a strangers life, past and connection with the book. I found it interesting how it related to my own past experiences with being gift books but also how, where and when the notes were made or placed within the book.

A collection of images intended to capture the 'unseen' effects of isolation on the 'unseen' individual living alone.

An exploration of the meaning of self and the ‘Portrait’ Through this set of images I hope to capture the concept of the portrait being more a reflection of the artist than an insight to the subject. The portrait is a result of many decisions made by the photographer, those decisions tainted by their observations, pre-conceptions and agenda. At some point the product of those decisions is more the interpretation of the photographer than the representation of the subject. The ability to manipulate and alter the image leaves us open to believing someone looks or even acts a certain way. Photographers can create masks, beauty or deceit. In many ways photographers are, through their subject, taking a self portrait albeit vicariously.

By no means the first, but possibly the most documented, enslaved man in the Lancashire and Greater Manchester area Juba Royton is notable for his few but unique appearances in local and national records. These dates are merely records of occasions in his life, no images of him, no history before his arrival in Oldham and no indication to the type of man he was beyond what the records infer.

Jasmine is my rescue dog and best friend for many years. I often walk with her to and from places I need to go and most often to a place where I can play games with her in a semi controlled way. This series was a personal decision to let Jazz take control of several walks and lead the way. Mainly as I found I tended to also be rushing and hurrying around our pre-set route and destinations. I found myself thinking of what she sees and smells and how she interprets the world. I also thought of how I myself was the cause of our hasty walks and with this series I took the time to enjoy the experience of being with her.