Creating Authenticity

If you’ve read my bio then you know that my career began with skateboarding. For over a decade travelled throughout the UK, Europe and the Americas documenting some of the most notable names in some of the most amazing environments. Skateboarding and photography share a common ethos; there are no set rules, no set career path and they both involve countless hours of practice to create authenticity that resonates with an audience.

The cultural capital within skateboarding is weighted around style, progression to create influence on its’ ever evolving culture. With so much riding on each published photo within a skateboard magazine, the emphasis is always on the key moments of performance with little time or opportunity to just tell the story of the day to day life as a pro skateboarder.

The Wolverhampton Civic Hall has a rich history in Skateboarding with photos of the spot first appearing in R.A.D. Magazine in the 1980’s. I have shot there many times over the years whilst creating editorial and advertising work, but this time I wanted to approach things from a documentary viewpoint.

Enlisting the talents of local Pro and good friend Henry Fox I set him the challenge of just sessioning the main concourse of the Wolverhampton landmark as I moved around to capture the scene, offering very little direction. I kept my distance and let the moments happen organically, I wanted the photos to seem like they had been observed through the eyes of a casual bystander.

All practice is good practice when it comes to photography, it’s all about updating your approach. I’m really happy that two decades into my photographic pursuit that self assignment still proves to be a great revitalising tool and a reminder that human connection and artistic exploration are powerful motivational tools for a life in the visual arts.