First

Hey there. Thanks for coming in.

I’m going to assume that most of you here have just followed me around from all the various places online where I have been on and offline, but for those of you that don’t know me, I’d like to extend a hello and perhaps talk a little bit about me and my practice at some point on here, as well as the rest of the human side of things that perhaps may or may not explain the creative output that you see here and elsewhere.

The reality is that to get where I am now as a ‘contemporary photographer’, working with equipment and a medium that is older than me, is a long story. Back in the earlier days of the internet I used to write a lot, but not so much now; my old blog was part diary, part sketchbook, part whinge pit (as I used to call it), and occasionally there would be pictures. I still get a lot of people asking if I will ever going back to writing a bit more regularly again, but I don’t want to put that pressure on myself; everything I ever seem to write now appears to be from a professional standpoint as someone working out what it is to be an ‘artist’, how to be an artist, and all the formalities that go with it (writing reviews for things, talking about a process, &c., &c.)

From picking up film again back in 2016 and then completely switching from digital to (mostly) film back in 2019, the writing element of things seemed to die off a bit because the photographs seemed to do more of the talking - as they should if you’re going to attempt to carry that title of being a freelance ‘photographer’, I guess. On the other side of that, I was diagnosed with C-PTSD after two traumatic incidents at my salaried job as a railway employee (which had consequently triggered some other deep-seated trauma from events that were adjacent to my salaried job), with the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown here in the UK sandwiched between all of that. I had also come to learn in my mid-30s that I had lived my life this whole time not knowing (but perhaps having a slight inkling) that I had Combined Type ADHD, which really made memories of my upbringing and school life and how I was treated (and the resulting suicidal ideation, severe depression, and anxiety), even harder to come to terms with when combined with the chaos that seemed to be a never-ending cycle of trauma in my adult life.

Film photography and the analogue, fully-tactile, slow way of doing things helped a lot with my overall C-PTSD recovery and management, as well as keeping in check the overwhelm that comes with ADHD; I had (pardon the pun) a focus and a purpose that, although I always saw it as ‘I’m just someone who takes pictures’, other people objectively saw it as different and claimed me to be a ‘photographer’ in my own right, because I am still too anxious to really own it as a label for myself. I mean, it still doesn’t sound right, but neither does ‘artist’, but if that’s what people see in me and believe, then I suppose there must be something in it?

For those of you that are new to me and my work, you will find that everything is personal, even when it is not supposed to be. This is why you won’t just find me photographing what it means to be journeying and in transit, but all my other interests and passions too; music, certain sports, general observations of life, &c.

‘Contemporary photographer’, ‘artist’, or whatever else. I’m just a human being with a sometimes creative mind.

I guess that’s all for now, and I forget the point that I was trying to make, but thanks for joining me. I hope that you find a way to connect with some of the work, or that it evokes something meaningful to you. If you just so happen to like it, then bonus.

With love and light,
Anne x