I have been working as a professional photographer for just over 30 years now. Initially as an editorial sports shooter, then transitioning into commercial and advertising work. I can’t really identify a first ‘break’ as such – my attitude was more based around building consistently over time, to concentrate on producing quality work and to solidify relationships along the way. Over the course of my career I’ve been represented by many agents, ultimately hiring my own agent/producer, which was how I operated for the years before the idea to start my own production company.

This idea first came to be out of necessity really. My great mate, Simon Harsent, had just finished with his Australian rep at the time and suggested off-handedly that I should start a production company. My initial response was that it sounded really hard, but then I broke it down and figured that I already had in place what I needed to get something started, and so it came into being.

Most photographers tend to operate very independently. They may share studios, but are usually very private about how they work, who they are working with etc. I had my own studio, and much like everyone else, was like a shag on a rock. I had however, been entertaining the idea of setting up a ‘drop-in’ style hub at my place, where photographers and assistants alike would be welcome to come over and share their work. This for me is where the juice is – to be able to contribute, and be contributed to, and this in turn became the fundamental philosophy behind The POOL COLLECTIVE. To share, inspire, motivate and produce are the original tenets and continue to shape everything that we do.