About //

Scroll up
Scroll down

I prefer to photograph cities and the sense of isolation that, at times, touches those who inhabit them.

Looking for David Bowie in a divided Berlin of 1977 was the beginning.

A decade of annual trips, as I edged downtown towards SoHo, showed me the constant change of New York City. Subsequently, a 10 year absence was broken with a return to the city in 2016 to witness the effect of increasing gentrification and, sadly for this visitor, a feeling of the city losing some of its vitality and tension.

Journeys to Italy, to build a collection of 150 images of 'Le Grandi Citta' Italiane' (The Great Italian Cities), have included  the experience of life in a 'sasso' in Matera, the small city featured in Carlo Levi's account of his time in that impoverished region during the 1930s,recounted in his book, " Christ stopped at Eboli "  ; the terrible shadowing of Forcella, the "mafia hotspot" area of Napoli;  and walking in the ever dark, web-like caruggi of Genoa. More recently, embracing a crowdless sunrise in Venezia and the emptiness of early morning in the memorial Piazza della Signoria in Firenze, exposed L'Italia at its most wonderful. 

Inspired by Bowie's single 'Where are we now?', I returned to Berlin in 2013 searching for lost time and finding that, thankfully, freedom no longer ends at Bernauer Strasse. Alas, one of my more recent trips to the city was taken a week after Bowie's sad demise, belatedly finding his old apartment on Hauptstrasse.

8 days in Japan, the land of  the quiet voice , amidst the tranquil civility of the super city of Tokyo, provided the chance to produce some of the gentlest urban photographs. A return to Japan allowed Nagasaki to show what can happen when we make the wrong choices; whilst  Kyoto becalmed with its matted ground. 3 hours spent at Shibuya Crossing amidst the dizzying syncretic flamenco of Tokyo fashion produced an enjoyable selection of black and white portrait shots.

Paris, through the contrasting seasons of spring, summer and autumn presented the city of light from different angles using the, formerly disreputable, area of South Pigalle as the centre point.

In winter 2019 Chicago experienced unseasonally low temperaures, descending to -21 degrees, but in exchange donated some beautiful images of art and architecture supplemented by the wonder of the El tracks and a covering of snowflakes.

The pandemic overwhelmed us in 2020/21. Restricted by a number of lock downs, for the first time in 50 years  , I explored the locality of Sheffield and the tip of it's adjoining county. ' A place of leafless trees' represents the images of the winter of 2020/21 and , hopefully, counters, in a small way,  the oppressive gloom of that time.

After 8 years, returning to Sicily in 2022 reminded me of the ever-present, stark contrast of Mediterranean light and shade and revealed the growing confidence of the 'new' Palermo. In 2023, a week exploring the mystery and silhouettes of the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona and the changing face of El Born was contrasted with the surreal magificence of the Sagrada Familia and the unimaginable at Gaudi's house, La Pedrera. 

Rovinj allowed the darkest of shadows to fall between the constant sunlight as the colours of September entered the stage.

I live in Sheffield with my wife Ros 

SA

14/10/2023

 

Updated with images of:

1. Tokyo:Shibuya Crossing on 25.01.2016

2. Rome and the Museo dell'altro e dell'altrove on 2.05.2016

3. Paris at the summer's end on 5.11.2016

4. New York downtown : 2016 on 30.03.2017

5. Lisbon in 48 hours on 12.05.2017

6. Martha's Vineyard Revisited on 04.01.2018

7. Turin in February on 16.02.2018

8. Berlin at winter's end on 23.06.2018

9. Madrid on 05.07.2018

10.Paris in the half light of autumn on 05/01/2019

11.London : A Shoreditch weekend on 15/02/2019

12.krakow on 20/04/2019

13.Valletta on 02/06/2019

14.Chicago Art and Architecture on 04/01/2020

15.Chicago Traintracks and alleyways on 18/01/2020

16.A place of leafless trees on 20/09/2021

17.Belfast on 10/10/2021

18.Palermo : Amidst the light and shade on 10/07/2022

19.London: an afternoon in December at Tate Modern on 08/01/2023

20.Barcelona: Shadows and Alleyways on 20/09/2023

21.Barcelona : Architecture and Surrealism on 01/10/2023

22.Rovinj : The colours of early September on 14/10/2023

23.Innsbruck: 2024 and The Hungerburg Stations on 01/03/2024