Biography / Mini Curriculum vitae
I was born in Manchester, England, UK in 1973 and lived the early part of my life in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) and then back in the United Kingdom. I learnt photography at high school in Staffordshire and studied it a A-level along with a Radio & Journalism City & Guilds course at college.
I have been a professional photographer and freelance journalist since I left college in 1991, learning most of my trade in the Harare bureau of the Associated Press in the early 1990s (as an intern of sorts, before such a term existed - under two old legendary AP Africa hands, John Edlin and Angus Shaw).
I had my first front page photograph in The Independent when I was just 17 years old, from South Africa and one in The Guardian from Scotland earlier in the same year.
This was of course, the pre-digital era and I have an extensive archive of monochrome negatives and colour slides dating back to the late 1980s (they weigh 32kg!). Plus of course, a large archive of digital images. I am constantly adding new material and hope this year to buy a film scanner.
You can search my collection and view edited galleries on my database.
I have spent a lot of my career as a foreign correspondent and freelance journalist for US, Canadian, English and Scottish newspapers and written for many magazines, including The Economist, The Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman, The Sunday Herald, The Guardian, The Miami Herald, The Globe and Mail, The Christian Science Monitor, The Scot's Magazine, The Daily Record, The Scots Magazine, Farmer's Weekly and the Gemini News Service. I also wrote a few reports for The Economist Intelligence Unit in the mid-1990s. More recently, I was based in Athens and did some work for The Sunday Times, Euronews, EU Observer and several other titles. I am currently a freelance correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph in Scotland.
Most of the time I have been a photojournalist as well and since 1990, I have had my images used in UK and international newspapers and magazines including; National Geographic, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The New Statesman & Society (cover), New Internationalist, The British Journal of Photography, The Independent, The Daily Mail, Mailonline, The Mail on Sunday, The Sun, The Scottish Sun, The Sunday Mirror, The Daily Record, The Scotsman, The Miami Herald, The Panama News, The Tico Times, The Globe and Mail, Country Life, BBC Wildlife, Cathay Pacific Magazine, Frontiers, The Scot's Magazine, The Sunday Post, De Zeit, Trouw, The Miami Times, The LA Times, Vistazo, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer, Newsweek, TIME Magazine, BBC Science Focus, Elsevier, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, The Nautilus Telegraph (formerly The NUMAST Telegraph), The Sea, Lloyd's List, The Journal of Commerce, The Wall Street Journal and many others. In recent years, my work has appeared a bit on the web sites of many of the UK newspapers mentioned above.
I have been a professional photographer and freelance journalist since I left college in 1991, learning most of my trade in the Harare bureau of the Associated Press in the early 1990s (as an intern of sorts, before such a term existed - under two old legendary AP Africa hands, John Edlin and Angus Shaw).
I had my first front page photograph in The Independent when I was just 17 years old, from South Africa and one in The Guardian from Scotland earlier in the same year.
This was of course, the pre-digital era and I have an extensive archive of monochrome negatives and colour slides dating back to the late 1980s (they weigh 32kg!). Plus of course, a large archive of digital images. I am constantly adding new material and hope this year to buy a film scanner.
You can search my collection and view edited galleries on my database.
I have spent a lot of my career as a foreign correspondent and freelance journalist for US, Canadian, English and Scottish newspapers and written for many magazines, including The Economist, The Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman, The Sunday Herald, The Guardian, The Miami Herald, The Globe and Mail, The Christian Science Monitor, The Scot's Magazine, The Daily Record, The Scots Magazine, Farmer's Weekly and the Gemini News Service. I also wrote a few reports for The Economist Intelligence Unit in the mid-1990s. More recently, I was based in Athens and did some work for The Sunday Times, Euronews, EU Observer and several other titles. I am currently a freelance correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph in Scotland.
Most of the time I have been a photojournalist as well and since 1990, I have had my images used in UK and international newspapers and magazines including; National Geographic, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The New Statesman & Society (cover), New Internationalist, The British Journal of Photography, The Independent, The Daily Mail, Mailonline, The Mail on Sunday, The Sun, The Scottish Sun, The Sunday Mirror, The Daily Record, The Scotsman, The Miami Herald, The Panama News, The Tico Times, The Globe and Mail, Country Life, BBC Wildlife, Cathay Pacific Magazine, Frontiers, The Scot's Magazine, The Sunday Post, De Zeit, Trouw, The Miami Times, The LA Times, Vistazo, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer, Newsweek, TIME Magazine, BBC Science Focus, Elsevier, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, The Nautilus Telegraph (formerly The NUMAST Telegraph), The Sea, Lloyd's List, The Journal of Commerce, The Wall Street Journal and many others. In recent years, my work has appeared a bit on the web sites of many of the UK newspapers mentioned above.
Travels with camera...I took this self-portrait while on assignment covering the effects of climate change in the Everest Himalaya in December 2005. During that week and a couple of others I was literally the highest foreign correspondent and photojournalist in the world! In the background is Mount Everest - Picture by Jonathan Mitchell/Atlas Photo Archive
I have freelanced for various international news agencies like Gamma-Liaison, SIPA Press, Sygma, Corbis-Sygma and every now and again for Reuters, the Associated Press (AP) and Agence France Presse (AFP). My news footage has been distributed by AP and Reuters and used all over the world via Getty Images. I was also a long time contributor to Panos Pictures, Hollandse Hoogte, Avalon (formerly UPPA/Photoshot) and TopFoto as Atlas Photo Archive.
I've worked in a variety of locations throughout my career, including most parts of the UK, Cuba (1993), Panama (1994-1998), Costa Rica (1994-1998), Honduras (1997), Nicaragua (1996), Mexico (1994), the USA (1994), Colombia (1995-1996), Spain (2000-2018), France, The Netherlands, Turkey (1990), Tunisia (2014), India (2004), Nepal (2004-2010 - including over a year in the Mount Everest region), Zimbabwe (1990-1991), Zambia (1990-1991), South Africa (1990-1991), Portugal (2012-2017) and Greece (2019-2020, 2022 & 2023).
I am currently based in the Scottish Borders and cover things in Scotland and northern England. I have a Land Rover and can get along rough roads and into remote locations.
In recent years, I have started filming video in HD (since 2009) and since December 2017, have been filming in UHD 4K. Increasing I film mostly drone footage at the moment (in 2018, I studied for the UK Civil Aviation Authority Permission for Commercial Operation - PfCO and have an excellent knowledge of drone aviation matters). Via Newsflare, Pond5 and other agencies (plus the odd direct sale), I have my footage used in TV documentaries on Discovery, BBC4 and ITV and in adverts and feature films - plus had my videos featured on web sites like MSN.com, Liveleak.com and Dailymotion.com. In 2019, I produced, filmed and edited a TV news report for Euronews.
Despite all of the above, I have spent the majority of my adult life living in gentile poverty.
I am fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and speak passable French and hold a clean UK driving licence. I can also accept work as a location scout for filmmakers, copy writing, fixer and translator.
If you are looking for someone with my experience and skills for your company, then please do contact me.
I've worked in a variety of locations throughout my career, including most parts of the UK, Cuba (1993), Panama (1994-1998), Costa Rica (1994-1998), Honduras (1997), Nicaragua (1996), Mexico (1994), the USA (1994), Colombia (1995-1996), Spain (2000-2018), France, The Netherlands, Turkey (1990), Tunisia (2014), India (2004), Nepal (2004-2010 - including over a year in the Mount Everest region), Zimbabwe (1990-1991), Zambia (1990-1991), South Africa (1990-1991), Portugal (2012-2017) and Greece (2019-2020, 2022 & 2023).
I am currently based in the Scottish Borders and cover things in Scotland and northern England. I have a Land Rover and can get along rough roads and into remote locations.
In recent years, I have started filming video in HD (since 2009) and since December 2017, have been filming in UHD 4K. Increasing I film mostly drone footage at the moment (in 2018, I studied for the UK Civil Aviation Authority Permission for Commercial Operation - PfCO and have an excellent knowledge of drone aviation matters). Via Newsflare, Pond5 and other agencies (plus the odd direct sale), I have my footage used in TV documentaries on Discovery, BBC4 and ITV and in adverts and feature films - plus had my videos featured on web sites like MSN.com, Liveleak.com and Dailymotion.com. In 2019, I produced, filmed and edited a TV news report for Euronews.
Despite all of the above, I have spent the majority of my adult life living in gentile poverty.
I am fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and speak passable French and hold a clean UK driving licence. I can also accept work as a location scout for filmmakers, copy writing, fixer and translator.
If you are looking for someone with my experience and skills for your company, then please do contact me.