Here are some of my favourite images together with the story of how I came to take them.
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The Fin, 2011
Way back in 2011, I was fascinated by the buildings in Manchester – mainly the Victorian and Edwardian commercial architecture. There was lots to go at, and much that was in an attractive state of dilapidation. But there’s lots of modern buildings too and I regret not photographing more while I was there.
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The Heron Wood, 2020 an intuitive project
Is your photography thought-through or more intuitive? Do your pictures depend on your experience or do you just go exploring?
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Distant Horizons, 2019
Sometimes, when you take a photograph, you know immediately what it’s about. Other times, you’re not so sure. This was one of those times.
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Wrong end of the telescope, 2019
You get the telescope out to try and see more clearly but it doesn’t help. It’s the wrong way round. And they’re getting further away.
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The Serpents’ View, 2015
Has something just happened? Or is something about to happen? Or perhaps nothing ever happens up here in the waiting room on the roof of the known world.
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Safe Homecomings, 2016
Thoughts of home after the uncertainty of carefully picking your way up river past sandbars and shoals.
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The Night Express, 2016
It’s as though the bridge is being cast in front of your eyes, a trail of molten gold flowing along the raised track.
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Time’s Arrow, 2016
There was something about the line of gravestones not just leading to the door but also taking you back in time as you walk along beside them.
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Bamburgh, 2016
Bamburgh, 2016: bringing myths to life – the story behind the image.
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Piemme, Bologna, 2006
I remember feeling quite overwhelmed by the blue and didn’t really notice anything else for a while. I knew I had to take this photograph.
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A Longing for Distant Shores, 2015
It does seem I get inspired by bad weather. I just needed 50 seconds between squalls to get the long exposure shot, and I wasn’t getting them.
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The Farnes, 2019
Going back through my pictures, I’ve been finding it far easier to identify interesting monochrome images to document rather than colour ones. Better? Or just different?
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Late bar, Venice, 2008
By daylight the scene is nothing to write home about. But at night, nearly midnight, all those extraneous elements and colours just disappeared, and the atmosphere of the Venetian night took over.
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Chad! No! Manchester, 2012
“But it’s just a picture of a wall!” It’s also a picture of ambition moderated by pragmatism, of nostalgia, of seeing how things were, how things are now and how they got there.
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Manchester Art Gallery, 2004
As soon as I saw the negative emerge from the developer I knew I’d got something worthwhile.
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Lower Gilmore Bank, Edinburgh, 2019
It’s the sort of picture I’ve always longed to be able to make – technically and compositionally appealing.
