PHOTOGRAPHY SHOP

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PHOTOGRAPHY & PRINT FAIR

How did you get here
on your creative journey?

 Not everything worked out straight away.
It’s only thanks to the help and trust of so many people all around the world that I’m able to do what I do. 
I’m hugely grateful for how people have been open
and supportive towards me; a lot of attention
and care goes into my projects. .

What drew you to photography?

 First of all it didn‘t work out with my football career, so then I studied graphic design.
However, I didn‘t want to do design and just sit at a desk hammering into a computer.
I wanted to experience and photograph stories myself. I love to be on the road.

Tell us about the work you submitted?

I have been documenting the daily life of teenagers in British working-class
communities for more than a decade. After the Brexit referendum I turned my focus
on Belfast where Protestant Unionists and Catholic Nationalists often live
in homogeneous neighbourhoods that are still divided by walls today.
The problems young people struggle with in Belfast are similar - no matter which side
they live in.

I like this quote from Belfast-born novelist Paul McVeigh: “If I had been born at the top of my street, behind the corrugated-iron border,
I would have been British… My whole idea of myself,
the attachments made to a culture, heritage, religion, nationalism
and politics are all an accident of birth.
I was one street away from being born my enemy.”

How would you describe your creative style
and way of working?

 At the forefront of my work there’s always a significant theme
that  I feel as important regarding content. While photographing
I take a lot of time to build trust with the people I’m working with,
being patient and taking them and their lives seriously.
I want to photograph a coherent series, but also one
that is made up of strongly composed individual images.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

 Mostly my three year old son!

Social media and you: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Tell us all...

 Difficult topic.
On the one hand it’s a good opportunity to draw attention to oneself and one‘s work, independently of magazines and publications. On the other hand, it often takes up a lot of time
that I would rather spend on photographing new work.

What’s on your creative calendar for the near future?

I will continue to walk the line somewhere between documentary photography
and fine art photography, with a particular focus on the everyday lives
of young people. The pandemic situation makes planning difficult at the moment
but I hope to return to the UK later this year. A trip to Sudan is also imminent
and some postponed exhibitions can hopefully open soon.

Tips, tricks and secrets for making it in the art world? 

It doesn‘t feel like I’ve made it yet but I try not to let that feeling
affect me and just keep going.