Each year I do a retrospective of my work in printed form, a book of my favourite photos that I have taken that year. This is just for me, a keepsake but also an important medium to measure myself with year on year.

I believe photos should be printed, released from the trappings of their digital siblings. I much prefer the physical aspect of a photo, feeling the texture of the paper and seeing how the image changes in the light. Honestly, I’d rather pick some gorgeous stock and print out a bunch of images and just stitch them together myself. But book binding is an art form I have yet to learn. One day perhaps!

My first job in photography was working in a professional darkroom, printing other people’s photos. I later created my own darkroom in my parents garage and would spend hours in there perfecting my photos. I’ve always enjoyed the end to end process of photography, the pre-planning, the styling and makeup, collaborating with a model, lighting and of course the photography. But as soon as the shoot was over I would rush to process the film and then print off a few photos. It wasn’t uncommon for me to open the door to my darkroom to discover it was 3 am in the morning.