About me

I’ve taken photographs from childhood, partly encouraged by my father who was a photographer for a time. In recent years I’ve tried to develop more distinctive styles in landscape, seascapes, urban and travel photography. What am I trying to achieve in my photography? My aim is to take photos that pose questions about what we are seeing. One medium for attempting this is converting from colour to black and white. No longer pretending ‘this is how it was’, the use of tone in monochrome poses questions of interpretation and can make the everyday seem strange. Not always though. Sometimes colour works well and offers depth of vision. But I want to make photos that prompt questions and have emotional resonance.

I am an independent photographer and researcher based in Canterbury, with a particular interest in landscape, urban and travel photography. My professional work has been as an academic with expertise in social theory and the sociology of violence and conflict. I’m now Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, UK. In recent years I have developed an interest in both the practice of photography and photographic aesthetics and in 2020 my article,  ‘Social Theory, Photography and the Visual Aesthetic of Cultural Modernity’, won the 2021 SAGE Prize for Innovation and Excellence. In 2024 I published an essay on the photography of Edith Tudor Hart’s (in whom I have a long-standing interest), ‘Social Realism and Edith Tudor Hart’ in S. Read ed., Poverty For Sale Edith Tudor Hart in Britain London: Museums Etc pp.147-156. This was published to coincide with the Exhibition: Edith Tudor Hart, at the Salzburg Fotohof. I have also given a lecture on Edith Tudor Hart’s photography.