.HOW IT ALL BEGAN

I have been studying photography since I was in year 10 at secondary school for my GCSE’s which is where I suddenly fell in love with the medium. I found that I was forever having arguments with my teacher over how things should be done as I was very headstrong and I would do my work in my own way rather than being instructed on how to do things. I have always been creative and always liked pushing myself in the creative world. I was always told I wouldn’t make top grades, but still managed to come out with an A.

The same thing happened when at college, I would do things my own way and hardly listen to the teacher as photography and art is subjective, so I wasn’t fussed if the teacher didn’t like my work, as long as I did, and other people were taking an interest then it was fine for me. While I was at college I was booked to do my first wedding, which at 16 was a huge deal. Up to this point I would only shoot objects and nature and hated working with people as the subject matter, but the first wedding was a huge turning point in my life and I finally started shooting people. The more I got into it, the more my work started to stand out and be talked about. This gave me a lot of confidence in my practice because the way I had been learning (listening to my own instinct rather than the teachers instructions) had paid off, even though it made everything that bit more difficult as there was still a guideline that had to be followed for the marking scheme, and making my work still fit it. I never made projects simple and the outcome would never be a simple one either, it didn’t always come together as planned, but to be fair we all have points where that happens. After the 2 years at college, I came out with an A* which enabled me to be able to go to university in Cornwall (Falmouth University).

University was a huge turning point in my life, both photographically, and in myself as a person. It was far from easy, and the work load was like nothing I had ever seen before in all other walks of education, but I still managed to get it all done… wine, tears, breakdowns, sweat, and blood happened. I was trying to fight the system at every point because of what I had learnt at school and college (if you stop listening and use it purely as a guideline then my grades were better) but to little prevail. University was like nothing I had encountered before and nothing I did seemed to be right.

The style in my work had strengthened and I became more comfortable in myself eventually, but to me, as long as I’m happy and am able to sell my work/get hired for jobs then thats all that matters for me. I know that my photography is appreciated and just because a few tutors at university didn’t like it, doesn’t mean I should change the way I shoot and work. Photography and art are subjective, so not everyone will like everything. If everyone in the world liked the same things then the world would be a fucking boring place.

Half way through my final (and most important) year at university, I stumbled across a premesis near my home town of Haywards Heath, West Sussex, that I would be able to change into a photography studio/gallery/work space and set up my own business in. I was constantly travelling the 300 miles to and from university during term time as much as I was financially and able to, so that I could get the business up running as quick as possible. The overlap wasn’t the best of ideas as my final year was then being bogged down with the extra stress of setting up a new business at the age of 21 and still studying.

It took a few months and a lot of work, but I did open not too long after leaving university, my new business FAIRFIELD STUDIOS in Burgess Hill, West Sussex.

The photographic and art world is not an easy one by any stretch of the imagination, but it can sometimes only take that one image to seen by the right person and then suddenly you are a famous artist/photographer. As much as I hate the phrase “its not what you know, its who you know”, it is very true.