A lifelong practice in craft, precision, and creative play.
There’s something uniquely powerful about working with film. The slow process, the weight of the camera, the smell of developer in the darkroom — these tactile experiences shape not just how I work, but how I see.
My analogue photography practice began in 1985 with a second-hand camera and a shared studio in Glasgow. Since then, film has remained central to my work — whether capturing portraits on 5×4 sheet film, or printing silver gelatin images by hand in the darkroom. This page brings together selected works from over the years, including personal projects, landscapes, portraits, and still lifes — all made using analogue methods.
While much of my recent work incorporates alternative processes such as gum bichromate and salt printing, traditional black-and-white film remains the foundation of my practice. I continue to shoot with large-format film and vintage lenses, valuing their clarity, slowness, and unpredictability.
Film demands patience. It doesn’t offer instant feedback or endless frames — and that’s part of its strength. You measure the light more carefully. You observe more closely. The final image carries a sense of intent and presence that’s difficult to replicate digitally.
These images aren’t about nostalgia, but about materiality — the physical trace of light on film, the grain, the exposure, the print. Each negative is a small object in itself, and each print carries the imprint of time and hand.
I work with a range of cameras — including medium format and large format 5×4 — and print using traditional darkroom techniques. My film prints are hand-developed and printed on fibre-based paper, often toned or further worked into. In some cases, I use these analogue prints as a base for mixed-media work or alternative processes like gum bichromate or cyanotype.
Over the years, I’ve worked with everything from 35mm Nikon SLRs and medium-format Hasselblads to pinhole cameras and plastic-lens toys. Each format offers its own texture, limitations, and rhythm. My large-format 5×4 camera allows for slow, deliberate portraiture and incredible tonal range — while my earliest images were often made with unpredictable plastic cameras that embraced blur and chance.
This diversity of tools is central to my process. I choose the camera that suits the subject — whether I’m working on a precise silver gelatin portrait, a looser landscape study, or something destined for alternative printing.
If you’re interested in learning analogue photography, from loading film to developing in the darkroom, I also run Analogue Photography Workshops from my studio in Hackney, London.
