Introduction

Hello, I am a photographer based in East London.

The first question people ask when you tell them you’re a photographer is ‘what kind of photography do you do?’ It’s understandable, after all, some people take pictures of microscopic organisms while others capture images of distant planets – both are photographers, yet it’s doubtful either of them do weddings.

Well, I don’t do weddings either – I wouldn’t mind having a crack at the other two though.

I try and keep what I do as varied as possible, but loosely speaking I shoot people. Be that portraiture, fashion, lifestyle, or action.

In the terms of those a little bit more used to categorizing photographers, I shoot ad campaigns, catalogues and look-books,  POS artwork, Press/PR event images and a bit of editorial here and there. Like anyone, I love interesting projects and really like to get involved with a project at the development stages if possible.

I shoot about 50% on-location and 50% in-studio, I have my own studio on Hoxton Street, East London (near Old Street Tube)

History

My love of photography comes from my dad. A keen amateur photographer, he probably looks back fondly on the days I ‘helped’ him with his make-shift lab in the bathroom, applying my own distinctive methods of washing prints with a hosepipe.

My paid career started when I lived in the mountains of Colorado in the USA, having always taken photos, a friend (Tim Warwood) lent me his (or it might have been his sister’s) camera and I took some shots at a snowboard event in Vail (UnVailed I believe it was called). Well for some reason I was asked to send them back to the UK for use in a magazine there (Snowboard UK) this saw the start of a relationship with the niche market magazine press which saw me travel the world taking ski and snowboard shots in the most luxurious locations, at the time of course I didn’t realise how good I had it – I mean the money wasn’t great but it was the journey of a lifetime.

11 years on and I’m still pressing buttons, my focus, if you’ll pardon the pun, has moved around a little and I tend now to take pictures at less lung-punishing altitudes, but I still felt the same buzz yesterday when I shot Jaz Colman of the legendary band Killing Joke in my studio for Universal Music, as I did all those years ago shooting Tim Warwood’s backside-rodeo of a cliff in Vail.

Of course the technology has changed, the lovely slide film which was the lifeblood of my career has been replaced by digital – above all else it’s the sound I miss the most, the advance of film and the hi-speed rewind of 36 shots spent. I could change a film with one hand, even if it was in it’s box, and I was in a blizzard!

I still shoot on film, although the 35mm has been replaced by 6×7, and it’s only 10 shots per roll and no high-speed anything!

However, I’m also a geek and I love anything remotely new, so I tend to shoot my everyday work on Canon’s best digital products, I like to process and post-produce my own work where possible, ensuring a personal touch from start to finish (I sound like a car-repair man!)

…and that’s about it I think! If you have any questions, give me a call or drop me a line and I’d be glad to answer them.

-Nathan

11 years on and now the majority of my work happens at a lower altitude.