I think photography definitely has the power to create some form of social change, particularly because it’s a universal language that can be understood by anyone viewing it. If you look at some of the images that are made during important events, for instance during the Vietnam War, they have the ability to shape and increase the public’s understanding of the subject matter they are depicting. I think the difficulty in modern culture is that photography is so prevalent and consumed at such a fast rate that it’s hard to cut through the sea of images that are being made and really reach people at their core to move them emotionally.

I’m not specifically focused on areas with a sparse population in my photography although it does occur in a number of my projects, particularly my earlier ones. My interest lies more in the relationship between environment and individual.

The environment is hugely influential, specifically when it comes to the shaping of attitude and identity. It’s important to separate individual environment and collective environment; someone’s home life can influence their identity in a number of ways, but then the community that they live in can have another effect on the forming of their identity and the shaping of their prospects in life. For example, I made a project recently looking at redlining in Syracuse (United States).
Redlining was a practice brought into law by the government in the 1930s, it colour-coded areas often based on race. If your community was African-American, you would be designated a red zone. If you lived in a red zone, you wouldn’t have access to mortgages or loans. If an African-American family moved to a block of white homes, the whole block was downgraded to red. This helped to stoke racial tensions and also kept areas segregated. Redlining wasn’t banned until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and even then it was replaced by racist zoning laws that were motivated by segregation. Obviously, decades of discriminatory practices by the government and private establishments creates a collective environment in these communities that helps poverty and inequality to thrive in a cyclical way.

From my experience, people in smaller communities seem to have a greater connection and respect for the land around them; they’re more in touch with nature because they come into contact with it on a daily basis, whereas people in cities can go for long periods of time without engaging with the natural world.

It depends on the project. For the majority of my work, it tends to be people that I see on the street, however, in some of my work, I spend longer periods of time in the community I’m looking at so people start to know me and I build more of a rapport with them. In general, my approach is to explain to them what I’m making work about, talk about the subject and ask if they’d be ok with me taking their picture. Then I get their contact details and send them the picture once I’ve processed my film.

I’m mainly interested in focusing on work that has personal ties to me which is why both of these projects interested me. I grew up near the Andover & Six Acres estates and Bike Life was something I found out about through a friend who was part of the community, so that’s what drew me into making work about both of those subjects.

I’m conflicted by the rapid Westernisation of China; in general, I don’t think it’s a positive thing. I don’t take issue with the emulation of Western design as long as it doesn’t damage Chinese culture. To me, the problem lies in the fact that a lot of beautiful buildings and communities aren’t being protected in the rampant developing that’s going on throughout China, and as a result of this, the world is losing pieces of history forever. The European style towns are quite incredible, specifically the way in which they’ve been adapted by the residents to suit the Chinese way of life whilst still retaining the surface image of being European.

The main reason I choose to shoot on film is because of the process that it involves. It really slows you down and forces you to focus on the subject matter, you’re not able to snap away and take loads of pictures, you have to make sure that you’ve got it right before pressing the shutter. I find when I work with digital I tend to do most of the work afterwards to get the image looking the way I envisioned it whereas with film I do the work while I take the picture and the post-production is very minimal.

I like to keep things very natural in my images, so when I’m making a portrait I don’t like to pose them. Most of the time I’ll just ask the person I’m photographing to stand in a specific place and that’ll be the extent of the direction I give them. For me, it’s important with documentary work to try and keep my influence on the subject as minimal as possible. Although it’s impossible to have no influence because there’s an interaction with the subject that naturally feeds into the image, there are steps you can take to try to reduce that impression left by the photographer.

When I graduated uni, I was trying to decide what my next step was in my career. I had done a lot of assisting at uni and didn’t really want to do more unless it was with someone who was making work in the same sort of category as me. I was talking to Emma, who is the picture editor at FT Magazine, and she asked me who I was interested in assisting. I rattled off a bunch of names including Zed’s and she happened to be friends with him, so she put me in touch. I learnt a lot of different things working for him but I think the most useful thing I absorbed was the ability to research my subject matter in depth.

To be honest, at the time that I said that, I had a different attitude to photography. I can afford to travel to make work now if I want, but I’m not as interested in jet-setting around the world to make projects in short spaces of time. I’m much more focused on creating bodies of work that take time and tackle difficult subjects, hopefully bringing issues to light that, in general, people aren’t aware of or at the very least presenting a different perspective. 

If I’m doing editorial work, I’ll always shoot on film; with ad work, it’s a bit trickier because like you said, the client wants to see what you’re shooting. Also, there’s a lot more money invested into the production of the shoot and you don’t want that to be wasted because your film comes out blank! With that sort of work, I’ll either shoot digital if there’s a quick turnaround or if there’s more time I’ll shoot digital and film so I have a safety net if something goes wrong with the film.

I made a short film when I was studying at university and I’ve worked with DOPs for ad jobs where we’ve produced films. I really enjoy the process of filming but I find the editing part really draining, so that puts me off. I think there are stories that can only really be told through film, so I’m sure I’ll end up making another one at some point.

That’s a very hard question to answer! I think my favourite project so far has been Concrete Horsemen, it came together when I was in the right headspace to be making the project and I really enjoyed the process of hanging out with the guys at the stable and making the work. In terms of commissioned work, I couldn’t pinpoint one specific job that was my favourite but there have been numerous that felt like milestones in my career, either because I was photographing someone who I had been a fan of for a while or because the images were circulated so heavily.

I’m 27 now, so I don’t know if I still feel as though I fit into that category of younger photographer –although I know a lot of people who would disagree with me. If I have an edge in the industry, I think it probably comes from the fact that I’m coming from what is potentially a unique perspective in terms of my background and upbringing; I guess that leaks into my work and allows me to tell stories in a way that maybe others overlook.