I received a call earlier this month from the Daily Telegraph picture desk asking if I could spend the weekend photographing a brand new festival in the sunny county of Suffolk. This new festival, “The Primadonna festival” is a hybrid of music, spoken word, food and of course a literary treasure trove of information. Many top authors were on hand to give talks and partake in discussions around the issues of women in literature.

Rasing dance Photoshoot in Rundown South East London Council Estate

It’s a fact that today thousands of magazines around the world, numerous websites and hundreds of outside billboards, bus shelters and advertising posters have all one thing in common. They all carry ‘lifestyle’ images. But what exactly are lifestyle images?

I’m personally being asked more and more for lifestyle images, not only from photo agents and libraries but now from private clients too. My business clients want images the show real-life experiences from their ‘in the field workers’, workshops, and group activities to better sell their products. Private clients now are seemingly wanting that clean everyday happy family or ‘couples look’ that they’ve seen in those magazines, websites or on Tv adverts.

I made my annual pilgrimage to my favourite venue in London, the National Portrait Gallery where this year’s Taylor Wessing Portrait prize winners and other selected images were on show. The exhibition of images celebrates and promotes the very best in contemporary portrait photography from around the world. It’s always a pleasure to see how other photo artist ply they’re skills and artistic vision when applied to photographic portraiture. I have to say that it’s my favourite genre of photography, something which on the face of it is so simple and direct, but it’s so much more, creating and sculpturing a beautiful, beguiling and evocative photographic image.

My love for the portrait genre, whether photographed or painted has been with me since my early teens. I have far too many favourite artists to name here, but it all boils down to my curiosity, not only towards the person in question but also a curiosity towards their lives too. Much of my own work is based on environmental portraiture, I suppose I'm drawn to people with stories to be told, and the challenge for me therein is trying to tell their story within a single photographic frame.

For over 10 years, the Human Development Foundation’s Mercy Centre's Aids hospice, near Bangkok, was the first, largest and only free Aids hospice in Bangkok. At first, the hospice was known as a dumping ground for dying people.

One of the most pleasing aspects of my job sees me meet and photograph hundreds of different and interesting people; from people working in London’s sewage system, to top fashion designers, international sports stars to film and pop stars all over the world. This week I received a call from London’s Metro newspaper to photograph Emma Waddell in Sudbury, Suffolk. Emma used to work as a corporate banker in the city of London for over 30 years. During a break from her job, Emma stumbled across the world of Doll’s House and the intricate art of producing elaborate and detailed miniatures for these grand doll’s houses.

I love listening to other people's stories about their time growing up in Suffolk. For someone like me, a once committed 'towny', these stories seemed like a million miles away from what I experienced growing up in London. Only just recently, I had the good fortune to be asked if I would like to produce a new set of images for a campaign on behalf of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. I was tasked with producing a series of environmental portraits. This new collection of images were to accompany their “Growing up Wild” exhibition which aimed to create a memory bank of people's childhood experiences on growing up in the Suffolk countryside. The finished exhibition of work would tour the county and be on display at a selection of the Trust’s wildlife centre's and sites dotted around Suffolk. https://issuu.com/suffolkwildlifetrust/docs/growing_up_wild_2017

A 'Shot list' is an essential ingredient for all branding and profile shoots that I produce these days, they help clarify all the critical steps for all my photoshoots. My clients spend a considerable amount of time thinking, organising and some even spending good money on making sure they have everything ready for their photo sessions.

The commission involved photographing twenty environmental portraits stories featuring a diverse cross-section of individuals from the Eastern region. From Pig Farmers, Rapeseed Oil producers, to a Bee Keeper and honey producer. Also included in the twenty were some of the companies loyal customers, and others from the Co-Op's own businesses such as Travel agents, opticians, funeral service directors, to building service team members. The remit of the campaign was "Let’s feature colleagues, make heroes of them, photograph them, and tell their stories!”