I specialise in Commercial Photography, Celebrity Portraits, Buildings and Interior spaces, Corporate Photography as well as using my skills to capture people's real personalities through Creative Portraiture. 

I shoot for editorial magazines, newspaper supplements, as well as advertising & commercial assignments, TV stills and PR.

I have a wealth of technical experience in all aspects of photography and an instinctive creative mind. I am a perfectionist.

I'm humbly known for putting my subjects at ease and bringing out real character from those I photograph. I reckon I am very easy to get along with, priding myself on being both friendly and professional.

I am based in County Durham but I work nationally and internationally.

OK, that's the short version.

Here's the mini (?) autobiography....

My first pictures when I was 12 on an all manual bellows film camera were not good at all. However, it was one of the best presents my Dad gave me because it started a passion which has not left me. He loved filming our family on his 8mm cine camera and editing them on a manual splicing machine. He would show them, much to my intense embarrassment to my friends at my birthday parties. After I’d reached the age of maturity (about 10 years old in his eyes), he stopped filming the family and just filmed scenes of rivers, ducks and his work colleagues at garden parties that my mum had to cater for. He took us all on holiday in a home made trailer tent that was the embarrassment of the camp sites. I think I was just embarrassed a lot as a child. If I take a cursory look into my childhood psyche, I realised that hiding behind the camera rather than being in front of it, came far more easily to me. Also creating pictures that were better than my Dads gave me some sense of accomplishment. This wasn't hard but I could never be better than him academically.

Tellingly one of Mums favourite movies is ‘Brief Encounter’, a very British and beautifully filmed ‘stiff upper lip’ story of a chance meeting between a sad suburban housewife and a GP. Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard made me and my Mum cry in a love story that tears 2 people apart trying to decide whether to follow their heads or their hearts. David Lean directed this movie which is a perfect lesson in lighting and camera work and I would say is an absolute must for any potential photographer or film maker to watch if they can see through tears. It’s incredibly stylish without looking like it’s trying to be. Even the rousing music of Rachmaninov will convert any classical music hater to rethink their music tastes. If you are put off by the traditional English posh accents, bear with it. It’s of a time but it’s also one of the most timeless stories ever told. 

My Dad wanted me to do a ‘proper job’. My rebellious nature didn’t! I suffered utter boredom at school when uninspirational teachers wrote on blackboards and expected me to write it down and remember it all. If you looked out of the window you’d be clipped round the ear. Sideburns were yanked at hair inspections if the hair went past the ears. Force a kid to look a certain way or be a certain way and they will rebel against it. No wonder everyone looked like heavy metal band members in the 70s to get back at the ‘short back and sides’ which is now back with a vengeance with its very short back and sides! 

Determined (eventually) to become a photographer, I landed a job as a photographic assistant, most notably for the late Terence Donovan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Donovan_(photographer). Terence trained at the Budokwai martial arts club in London which is the oldest Japanese martial arts club in Europe. He would throw me to the floor if I made a mistake. He was a man who loved traditional photography and despised the digital era. He, like David Lean, loved light and what it could do to a picture. 

One day, my assistant training hit home. I became the fastest film loader in the Country. I became a very adept photographic labourer. The problem was that learning the art of photography only comes from life experience and shooting, not loading. Art is subjective but I can now confidently photograph anything in just about any style. I am a photo nerd and can talk about the nuances of lighting and lenses that most people don’t want to know.

My first steady work was with Loaded Magazine not long after it’s inception which is a story in itself. I used to be credited as Steve Perry (friends and family always call me Steve). When I bumped into Ben Dover (don’t google him if under 18) he told me his other pseudonym was Steve Perry and he used to take credit for my work. Apart from changing my credit to Stephen I have been learning my craft/art ever since - improving after each and every job. I now have experience in photographing a multitude of subjects and confident that I can do them for editorial or commercial use: All kinds of people doing all kinds of jobs on location and in a studio; portraits, celebrities, models, fashion, beauty, hair and lifestyle. Cars, buildings, interiors, boats, food, products, landscapes, medical, events and a load of others. If there’s a subject I haven’t photographed before, I relish the challenge. 

Experiences to name a few: 

* I started to learn to ski on 2m long skis when I was 8 before anyone realised that you can't ski on massive planks of wood.

*I’ve tried hang gliding after 12 pints of Bass and windsurfing after 12 pints of English Channel.

*Taught PE in a prep school in Leamington Spa 

* Went to Bristol Polytechnic and scraped a degree in Estate Management. This is a strange title for all things property. Not really anything to do with managing an Estate. 

*I gave up a promising career to become a photographer's assistant. My drive to do photography far outweighed any sensible ‘get a proper job’ responsibility. I still love interesting architecture and buildings whether they are derelict or a beautiful Stately Home full of amazing antiques and paintings. 

*I’ve travelled for work and pleasure to many places which all helps when I need to go anywhere. I’ve been to lovely places and hung out of cars to photograph other cars before car photography became fake.

* I’ve had all my cameras, passport and money stolen in India. 

*I’ve been made comatose in Thailand on rice whiskey while being shown around the village of the guy who guided me round the hills of Northern Thailand.

* I’ve trekked to the base camp of Mount Everest.

*I’ve sat on the roof of a bus travelling from Kathmandu to Varanasi. The smell of lentil farts and the small speaker screeching out distorted local music necessitated this.

* As a photography assistant I’ve nearly been beheaded by the blades of a helicopter while getting out of it with heavy camera bags as the helicopter sank into the snow with the blades still rotating at speed. Thankfully I didn’t know this until the stunt man for ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ who was piloting the thing in the Swiss Alps told me I’d been within a couple of inches of having my scalp removed. 

* I’ve hidden behind a sofa (in a slightly farcical way) at Lady Diana’s brothers wedding (as Donovan’s assistant) as he talked about some dodgy dealings with his best man Darius Guppy. This is all googleable now but never mentioned it for a long time in case I got in trouble with ‘The Firm’.

* I’ve witnessed my old boss Donovan hold up a tenner over the camera while photographing Lady Diana saying “recognise a relative?” 

*Terence Donovan took my portrait with Lady Diana. Ok as Donovan's assistant I was standing in for the then 'Prince' Charles (so he could check his lighting) but he was kind enough to get me a print!

*My first steady work was with Loaded Magazine not long after it started which is a story in itself.

* I’ve done talks on stage at the Photography Show at the NEC in Birmingham and the only time I wasn’t scared about that was when I started talking.

*I'm honoured to have been photographed by Zoe Law for her book 'Legends'. https://zoelaw.com/exhibitions/legends/

 *I’ve seen the technical side of photography and lighting change over the years and now people think that AI will make photography simple but to make the technology work for you, you need to know the fundamentals of the craft. The more you know about photography, the more technology an help you. Photography is about lighting. Bad lighting = bad photography.  A photographer learns to see, not just look. Everyone carries a camera with them at all times these days. Smart phones are clever but they can’t see what you see in their eyes. Talk to them (the person, not the smart phone) and try and understand what makes them tick. Look up at buildings and see why someone designed it that way. Look at anything in nature and see what emotion it invokes. When you look at a landscape, a person, a thing and see what difference the light makes? Cameras and computer software are very clever but you need to know how to light a subject. 

Every single photographic job is different. A different product, a different person, a different situation. What is the best way to make this thing, place or product the best it can be? Photographing a person is about bringing out their personality and although the majority of people are far more used to being photographed or photographing themselves it doesn’t mean they know anything about lighting and composition and why these things are important. 

Is photography an art or a craft? In my opinion it is both. Am I an artist? Given the opportunity to be - Yes. The art of seeing is backed by experience in the craft. 

“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist”. 

*I have been diagnosed with ADHD late in life and understand the challenges those with ADHD and other neuro-diversities have. If you know nothing about ADHD apart from the stereotypical ‘hyperactive’ type, I’m not that. There are many diverse neurological symptoms of ADHD and I am impulsive, impatient (when bored) and creative. None of this affects my photography apart from being very passionate about it and love learning as it changes.  I wish I’d known about ADHD when Donovan was alive as I’m now convinced he had it! ADHDers tend to attract other ADHDers and that’s what happened when I met my girlfriend. One day we’ll get married. ADHDers procrastinate a lot! She  also has ADHD and is beautiful and unique. We moved to her neck of the woods to convert a church into a house. When it comes to church converting ignorance was bliss for a couple of years. The last 2 have been a labour of labour.  I love living in the North. I feel more at home here than anywhere and I’ve been around a bit. 

My last quote from Donovan: While in a desert in Arizona photographing a campaign for Visa, he handed me his FujiGX617 panoramic roll film camera he said “I don’t care what you do as long as it’s perfect”.  I remain a perfectionist to this day. 

Stephen