It’s as simple as sending me an email and starting the conversation. It’s always helpful to get an overview of what you are after; what outcomes and deliverables you need and a timeframe. Obviously it’s good for you to know what budget you have available to allocate to the project. But generally ping me an email or give me a call and we take things from there. If it’s all new to you, I can help by sending you a short questionnaire that helps us build up a brief for the job.

There’s are many paths into becoming a photographer, my path might not be super relevant to your path. For me it was starting on small commissions and working up from there. I have shot many aspects in photography starting with events and weddings, to newspaper and magazine photography and now global advertising campaigns. You have to remember that a photography career is a marathon not a sprint, and everyone has their own trajectory. Generally getting a background, as I did, working for small magazines and newspaper is a good way to become an ‘all rounder’ as you become used to thinking on your feet a reacting fast to changing situations. But whatever aspect of photography you are interested in there is so much more to it than just taking pictures and that is where life experience is so useful. My journey is probably less relevant these days as the landscape has changed. There are apps, techniques, programmes, cultural movement’s etc etc that weren’t around when I started – so one has to forge their own path. The one thing I would say is the only way you will improve is by going out and taking pictures relentlessly.

If you are starting out in photography and want to deep dive I would suggest the following.

To start with immerse yourself in the history of photography; visit a good book store and get some books that teach the history and theory of 20th ands 21st century photographic practice.

Books I found helpful and enjoyed reading were:

• ‘On Being a photographer’ by Bill Jay and David Hurn
• Magnum Fifty years by Russell Miller
• Magnum Stories by Chris Boot
• Photographers Playbook by Jason Fulford
• Things as they Are by Chris Boot
• The Photobook: A History by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger
• Pictures on a Page: Photo-journalism, Graphics and Picture Editing by Harold Evans

In terms of other resources www.aphotoeditor.com is excellent to get some knowledge and in the UK the Association of Photographers (AOP) has good resources as do the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

I co-host a podcast focused on the visual industry, The Exposed Negative and we cover a lot of different aspects of the profession and speak to many different practitioners of the craft.

I currently do not offer any full time positions for an assistant but I am always open to meeting new people that feel they having something to offer. I like to build relationships with my assistants so that there is trust, and that takes time. There are plenty of amazingly talented assistants and young photographers out there that I will never get to work with – so if approaching a photographer to assist doesn’t work out, don’t feel down heartened, a lot of it comes down simply to luck; right place at the right time.

Please take a look at my Kit Room page to learn more about the kit I use

I tend to use a mix depending on the assignment, commission or camera system. For more journalistic based assignments where captions are important I have found Photo Mechanic is a good piece of software. Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop are programmes I have used for nearly two decades. On commercial jobs or contained projects I tend to use Capture One

Yes I have a shop page soon to be live, where you can browse and purchase prints. If there is something specific of mine you want a print of, then please get in contact and I can see what we can do for you.