WOMEN IN PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM Mar 2022

"Since the days of Julia Margaret Cameron, the number of male photographers, both amateur and professional, has vastly outnumbered women. The camera gave women the ability to record and comment on life with freedom and insight and to reveal a unique perspective.

In my personal projects I love exploring culture and heritage through the lifestyle and traditions of people around the world. From the amazing traditions of the “Guardians" in the Camargue I was able to recognise and pick out a young cow girl who was as capable as the traditional male horsemen but who stood out not only for her confidence but her sense of calm, poise and self-possession. Another pushier (male) photographer had spotted her at the same event and was trying to muscle me out of the way, but the innate unspoken and unthreatening communication that two women can silently create between them enabled me to capture some of the most powerful portraits of that series. I then turned this into a commercial project for Liberty.

Gaining trust and using my intuition has always been key to my work from photographs of couples undergoing IVF treatment to the remote crofting families in the Outer Hebrides.

As an art director initially and having studied painting and photography I instinctively understand what makes a good composition, but at the end of the day it is story telling that lies at the heart of my work, giving expression to the lives, passions and stories of my subjects."