A selection of my most recent commissions and ongoing projects.
The work shown here spans editorial assignments, portrait commissions, documentary projects and commercial photography for organisations and publishers. It reflects current areas of focus and the range of contexts in which I am working.
New projects are added regularly.
Another great shoot for Samaritans, photographing mental health activist John Junior.
In 2019, John started vlogging about his experiences of mental health issues on Instagram in order "to reach out to others with mental health difficulties". In May 2020 his vlogs on Instagram caught the attention of UNILAD, who approached Junior to test Samaritans self-help app during mental health awareness week and to help raise awareness for world suicide prevention day on 10 September 2020.
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Suzanne Lacy
What kind of city?
A manual for social change
The Whitworth presents the first major UK presentation of multiple works of US artist Suzanne Lacy, a pioneer of social practice and community organising for almost five decades. In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, What kind of city? has been conceived with the artist as a project that is more than an exhibition, one that takes key works with relevance to our current context and uses them to convene people in order to start new initiatives that will actively help rebuild our city. Working around fundamental themes such as youth agency, borders, social cohesion, and work prospects for older women, the exhibition is designed to operate as an evolving manual for how we create equitable transformation. This underpins a new direction of travel for the Whitworth, as an institution that actively works for and with people across the city, one that begins with the question: after Covid, what kind of city can we make together?
Thanks again to my friends at the Whitworth for asking me to document the event opening and associated artist’s talk.
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It was wonderful to meet and photograph Fidaa and Lily and be a part of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation’s vital campaign for clean air.
Lily has asthma, which is exacerbated by air pollution.
“She is nine years old now and has had breathing problems since she was a baby. Her old school was in an area with very high pollution levels, despite being near a park and off the main road. School is a place where children should be safe, but too many of them are in high air pollution areas.”
The family didn’t realise how bad the pollution was until Lily’s friend’s mum, Ruth, borrowed an air quality monitor from the British Lung Foundation. The results showed regular spikes of nitrogen dioxide that peak 50 per cent above EU legal limits. Ruth pushed the council to take action, starting a petition to create ‘school streets’ and ban cars on the roads close to schools at drop off and pick up times.
“Politicians simply aren’t taking enough action to clean our air. We need less traffic on the roads and social housing needs to be safer for children with asthma. They need more trees and green spaces to clean the air. Fresh air is so good for their lungs.”
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Langfields are specialist fabricators of process plant for the Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Offshore, Oil & Gas, Marine, Defence, Nuclear and other process industries. Based only one mile from Deansgate they demonstrate that there is still some manufacturing industry in the post-industrial city.
As a former engineer, I love visiting these places and finding out what’s being made and the techniques used.
The fabricators at Langfields receive giant 18mm Aluminium plates and within the space of only 20 metres, cut, bend and weld it into complex, water-jacketed vessels according to the exacting specifications of high tech industries.
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What Media help brands engage with clients by producing creative video and animation content.
They asked me to photograph their team at their new location in central Manchester. As always when working with this team, the shoot was full of positive energy and went by in a flash.
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The Superstar Awards are where Adidas Europe recognise the outstanding contributions of their staff over the previous 12 months. I documented the event at their UK headquarters. Many thanks to the superb event managers at TOL Events for bringing me on board.
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I was very pleased to be asked to contribute stills for a forthcoming episode of Art Fund’s Meet Me at the Museum podcast, in which radio presenter Mark Radcliffe and his bandmate Paul Langley tour Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry.
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Earlier in the year I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing the wonderful Sheila Anderson on behalf of the Samaritans. Sheila had taken part in the Samaritans’ Managing Suicidal Conversations training while working for the railways and has since helped a number of people in very difficult situations.
Sheila was on her way to the weekly shop when she saw someone who needed help – trusting her instincts, she struck up a conversation and managed to get them to safety, potentially saving their life.
“Around the beginning of last year, I was on the way to my weekly shop when I came across a young woman in floods of tears, I stopped the car and slowly approached her. I asked, “has something happened to bring you here today?” and I could tell that instantly broke her thoughts. She told me her name and said she was struggling to cope as she wasn’t able to get the support she needed.
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The story of when accidentality met 18-year old Tyson Fury in a primary school boxing gym in Wythenshawe, Manchester
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I had an informative and enjoyable day at Brades Farm near Lancaster shooting pictures for an article about the ecological impact of dairy farming for the Financial Times.
Father and son farmers John and Ed Towers add Mootral - a garlic-based supplement - to their cows feed, reducing the methane emissions from their (the cows) profuse flatulence by 20% and lowering the environmental impact of the farm by 10%.
Thanks to Ed and John for the comprehensive tour, the coffees and the much needed lend of the wellies.
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Photographs for the new website of European Geophysical Services photographed by Manchester photographer David Oates.
European Geophysical Services established in 1994, are a leading borehole geophysical logging and video surveying company providing a large range of measurements and services to the water, environmental, mining and geotechnical industries.
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Photographs from the excellent new exhibition Cloud Studies by Forensic Architecture currently showing at Whitworth Art Gallery as part of Manchester International Festival.
https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/cloudstudies
‘Cloud Studies’ was made for the exhibition Critical Zones: Observatories for earthly politics at ZKM Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. Alongside the physical exhibition, our work is also presented on the virtual exhibition platform.
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Another great assignment for Transport for the North this time at Leeds railway station.
Transport for the North exists to make the case to central government for increased transport spending in the North of the country and I’m proud to be able to contribute in some way to that necessary and long overdue aim. To use the existing infrastructure is to see it’s limitations, the age of the rolling stock, the lack of capacity a general sense of a system neglected and lacking the requisite investment over many years.
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When Bradley Dreha revamped his bedroom he decided to post before and after pictures on TikTok. The results were so good that San Francisco based design magazine Dwell got in touch to ask him for an interview.
Dwell then asked me to visit Bradley at his home in Walton, Merseyside to photograph him and his room for the latest issue of the magazine.
You can see more of Bradley’s work on Instagram @shitprints2
Dwell magazine can be found at dwell.com
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Another great assignment for Transport for the North this time looking at the transport infrastructure in Liverpool and Sheffield and how it was dealing with the impact of Coronavirus.
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Seashell Trust & Lauren Mullarkey Location: The Atrium, Library Walk (mixed media installation)
This autumn, Manchester is hosting 50 Windows of Creativity, a showcase of the work of artists and makers displayed in a series of windows, venues, businesses and spaces across the city centre.
The displays feature multiple art forms from fine art and photography to ceramics, crafts, mosaics and murals curated by well-known and emerging artists and collectives – all with a connection to Greater Manchester.
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Barnfather Wire is the UK’s largest independent wire production company. I was commissioned by long-time collaborators HTP Digital to visit the factory in Wednesbury to produce images for the company’s new website.
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A shoot documenting the high technology pharmaceutical facility in Preston Brook commissioned by the wonderful Vicky at film production company Fagan Jones. I was once again shooting stills alongside the exceptionally talented film cameraman Dan Lightening.
Miles and miles of robotised, computerised conveyors pick, sort and pack drugs for distribution to pharmacies around the country.
An enjoyable and very busy day that reminded me that running shoes are required equipment for photography professionals.
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Harassment Outside Abortion Clinics Is Still Happening, But Local Authorities Are Struggling To Stop It
The Home Office has rejected calls to put a national ban on abortion clinic protests, but councils are a long way off tackling the issue locally.
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It’s long time ago since I finished my PhD in Materials Science, my subject was high temperature materials yet my office was not in the upper rooms with the furnaces and laser flash equipment but in the basement with the polymer engineers and the extruders and that weird persistent smell of all things rubbery. So it was with a feeling of nostalgia that I was once again amid the extruders and waterbaths at Nufox in Manchester to photograph their people, processes and products for their imminent website redesign.
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