Back in the tail end of 2013, whilst up a ladder, a conversation with a writer about the possibility of shooting a celebrity in front of a wall of graffiti came about. It was sort of a dream of theirs. And it started me off to try and make that happen. As a Blues fan we talked about a ‘Zulu’ wall. As in – wouldn’t it be ace if they did a massive wall that said Zulu and then we got loads of original Zulus in front of it. Within a couple of weeks I visited a small shop in Brum having found out through the internet that this was where I could meet a proper old skool Brum lad. What I didn’t know until then was that I was about to meet a bloke who I had actually ‘nearly been mates with’ for thirty years. His name was Todd and between him and me we spent a long time after that first meeting many weeks talking to various other mates collecting what would be one of the largest gatherings of original Zulus in front of a graffiti piece painted specifically for them.

Todd and I came to realise that we had been ‘nearly mates’ because he went to school with my best mate Brett who also went to school with many of the Zulus who I did know but also many of my other school mates who had hung around with all the same people.… Read the rest

I firmly believe that Birmingham is the greatest of Cities. Of course the bias is completely there as I am from here, however, even though I have always felt that way, the travelling I have done over the last few years (which stepped up majorly over the last two years) has only confirmed that to me. We have a soul here. There is just something about Brummies that makes us really humble but really gobby at the same time. We don’t bang on about how great we are – but we are a City which has produced legends. And then (and I will come back to my thoughts on legends from this City in future blogs – as I have much to say about that hahaha) we have our beloved canals.

Now as  a very happy little Brummie – I can remember long long ago when the canals – or the cut as I prefer to call them – weren’t anywhere near as ‘trendy’ as they have become now. Its all very delightful seeing these new paths – all smooth and lovely for cyclists – but I remember when you used to have hack your way through brambles..dodge empty Corona bottles and pretty much accept that your legs were going to be covered to nettles (and I COULD NEVER FIND A HOCK LEAF) if you dared to venture along the sides of any path by the cut.… Read the rest

This was such a beautiful day. A real privilege to be asked to be the wedding photographer for a couple that I genuinely admire. I actually get asked a fair bit if I do weddings. I sort of do but sort of don’t. I don’t like wedding photographers as I don’t think they take any risks with the style of photographs they generally produce and I think you should really try and take photographs which are very individual to the personality of the couple you are shooting. So I will, but I’m not your ‘standard’ wedding photographer….

I will come back to photographs of this day at some point in the future – but when I was trawling through my archives of photos I found this one. Check the sheer shock (and horror in some cases) of the guests as I climbed my trusty ladders in my favourite boots to shout out my instructions to them all.

On this particular day I arrived at the church and managed to fall out of my car breaking my finger, severely spraining my wrist and ripping both my knees to shreds. I have absolutely no idea how but I managed to shoot the entire wedding even though I did feel like I was going to faint with the pain in my hand several times.… Read the rest