Each little tyrant with his little sign; Shows where man claims earth glows no more divine

John Clare 1793-1864

What I Do

I specialise in photographing people and places in the news or who should be in the news. I tell stories with photography, especially about the strengths of working class people doing things for themselves. Behind the Barber was my recent exhibition at the Barber Gallery in Birmingham.

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I am a Brummie by birth and proud of my roots in the industrial heartlands of the United Kingdom.

My main work is around environmental photography; people building lives in new and different ways.

I cover all area of alternative politics with particular interests in the politics of small practical campaigns.

I have spent a lot of time photographing those involved in building new and sustainable ways of living, such as the community on the Isle of Eigg in Scotland.

My background is in the Trade Union movement, I worked for workers in both the national health service and the energy industry for many years.

I have been an active climber and mountaineer, and through that experience I developed a special relationship with the landscape of the highlands of Scotland, where I spend as much time as I can……… but these days spend more time fishing than climbing!

I have a 1st class degree in Visual Communications (photography) from Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD)

I also do my bit for the environment locally through the Severn Rivers Trust

I am willing to accept commissions for photographic and journalistic work.

Land


“Each little tyrant with his little sign
Shows where man claims earth glows no more divine
But paths to freedom and to childhood dear
A board sticks up to notice ‘no road here’
And on the tree with ivy overhung
…The hated sign by vulgar taste is hung
As tho’ the very birds should learn to know
When they go there they must no further go”

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John Clare’s early nineteenth century poem The Mores expresses his opposition to the greatest class theft in the history of England. We still suffer today from the consequences of the removal of peoples rights and relationship with the land they live and work on. The landscape shapes our lives and in contemporary culture our lives are shaped by Tescos, Sainsburys and car parks.

Click here for the full text of the poem that has inspired me and many others for many generations

a few pictures