Experiment a lot. Find out what interests you. Look at photos and analyse what makes them work, how they’re done and why you like them.
What is your job?
I'm a freelance photographer.
What does your job involve?
As a portrait photographer, I have to get someone’s trust, make a decision about the style of picture to take, and take the picture all in a very short space of time. I usually have between five minutes and an hour.
How did you get to this point in your career?
I started off assisting a couple of photographers, and worked as a picture editor. Then, when I was 29, I took the plunge and set up as a freelance photographer.
It took a while to get going, but I had a few good clients. At the time, I worked mostly taking news and current affairs photos for newspapers including the Independent, Financial Times and the Guardian. Then I moved away from news and started taking portrait photos for magazines. I’ve taken portraits of Johnny Knoxville, Julie Burchill, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jean-Paul Gaultier, as well as musicians, varying from Nick Cave and Robert Wyatt to Tricky and Grandaddy.
What training did you do and where?
I studied a degree in Astronomy and Physics at University College, London. I enjoyed it, but that line of work would have involved doing lots of research and going into academia, which I didn’t want to do.
Which piece of work are you most proud of?
I’m proudest of the portrait I took of John Peel, which the National Portrait Gallery has in its collection. Also, the series of portraits I did of immigrants living in Britain; I created and researched the series myself. See my website
What do you need to succeed in your industry?
You have to be able to connect with people quickly and have good instincts of what you like and what might work in a picture.
Who’s your work hero / heroine?
August Sander, the pioneering German photographer. From the early 1920s until his death in 1964, he took portraits of hundreds of Germans for his ‘People of the Twentieth Century’ project. Each person was a definitive representation of their trade or status, e.g. baker, boxer, lawyer or revolutionary. It was a fantastic, single-minded achievement.
What inspired you to do this type of work?
Photography appealed to me because you constantly have new challenges every day. One day I’m shooting stars in Chile’s Atacama desert, the next I’m photographing at Wormwood Scrubs prison or doing a portrait of Tony Blair. It’s always different.
What do your friends/family think of the work you do?
My parents weren’t sure about it at first, because when you’re freelance, there’s always a financial worry. But they’re really proud of me now. They can point out my work in newspapers and magazines. That’s one of the advantages of working in the creative industries; you can show people what you’ve done, rather than just saying you work for ‘such and such’ a company.
What are your tips for anyone wanting to do your job?
Experiment a lot. Find out what interests you. Look at photos and analyse what makes them work, how they’re done and why you like them.
Creative inspirations
Cities
I love the teeming metropolis, the endless possibilities of big cities like London. You never know what you’re going to see around the corner.
Light
There’s nothing like beautiful light to make you reach for your camera. London has great light - it’s a big soft box – the cloud cover makes colours delicate and subtle.
Watching people
I love watching people – what they do, how they move, how they react.
The Jewish Museum in Berlin
It’s a great architectural space that disorientates and surprises. It also uses the way sound bounces around the rooms to chilling effect.
Walker Evans
This American photographer is best known for his photographs of the Great Depression. But he had a ‘hungry eye’ and found everything interesting, from grand mansions to extreme poverty, people on the subway to signage and graffiti. And all with a lovely visual poetry and narrative that he was the first to properly explore.
Fischli & Weiss
These Swiss artists show how you can be a serious artist and have a sense of humour too. At an exhibition at Tate Modern, they reconstructed dramatic scenes using sausages and cold meats. They also show you don’t have to stick to one thing: they’re video artists, photographers, sculptors and writers.
William Eggleston
His photos are unusually and unexpectedly beautiful. He found beauty in the mundane.
The White Stripes
You can create great music which is just made up of two elements. Dare to keep it simple if the basics are right.
Visual language
I like short phrases in books / music / conversation that evoke a picture. Like the lyrics from ‘A Certain Romance’ by Arctic Monkeys which talk about ‘classic Reeboks, or knackered Converse or tracky bottoms tucked in socks’.
The Shining / Stanley Kubrick
This film has such great visuals and a perfectionist’s attention to detail. ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ What more can I say?
If you would like advice on creative careers and courses, contact a Creative Way Careers Adviser - either Matt Ball on m.ball@uel.ac.uk / 07889 001764 or Sarah Comerford on s.comerford@uel.ac.uk / 07515 051509.