During Oxfordshire Art Weeks 2023 I am delighted to be exhibiting again at the wonderful KFL 'Spice of Life' pop-up gallery in Summertown.
I am showing a small selection of photographs made on a trip in spring 2022 to Morocco, a country I first visited more than 50 years ago!
Much has changed in the intervening period but much has remained the same, particularly the dramatic landscape bathed in that special strong and clear light. And the warmth of the people has not changed nor has their willingness to be photographed, sometimes for a small consideration.
What appears to have changed dramatically is the ambience of the country which 50 + years ago seemed deeply traditional, medieval almost. Modern Morocco in contrast is a vibrant youth centred Muslim nation where many people, and the young in particular, appear to enjoy a reasonable level of material comfort as well as a sense of independence and optimism.
Although I am essentially a documentary photographer, recording what I see and experience, my work encompasses a range of styles and approaches developed over many yeas.
I am a passionate traveller both to exotic lands and also across the amazing British isles, as well as around my adopted city of Oxford. I often travel on foot, sometimes covering long distances, and never without my camera.
I relish serendipitous encounters, often with strangers in strange locations, which are the source of many of my portrait studies. My early training as an architect sustains my interest in the best and the worst examples of the built environment, both ancient and modern.
For me, as an individual and as a photographer, everything in this extraordinary and precious world that we briefly inhabit is interesting and worth photographing with passion, humanity and gentle humour!