Hello…(again)…restart.

Blog for 1st November 2021.

Hello ! First off is apologies for the delay in writing, life has that funny habit of throwing things to me on a Monday (my designated NathanPhoto day) that impedes my writing skills, and as I look, it’s been that way for a couple of months so my apologies for not writing as often or sooner.

As I’ve always wanted this blog to be honest, I will attempt to lay out where I’m up to regarding NathanPhoto. Currently I’ve got research work, career change, both parents in the hospital and an adaptation of a career once had, to sort out, that’s mainly focussed on what identity is NathanPhoto taking?

This was brought into sharp focus while I was in the hospital, as a nurse asked me what do I do? As in what I did for a living, I really had to stop and think about what it is that I do now. I used to be a photographer seemed to be the best answer, I will be officially a PhD student at some point in the next few months if all goes to plan but as I haven’t shot anything paid for directly since pre pandemic days then can I call myself a photographer?

I always knew that I wanted to move out of the commercial arena, age wasn’t on my side and the long hours were dragging on my soul which in turn affected the quality of the experience (and the work!! I hear the more cynical of you shout!) so I moved over to teaching which went well but I’m now looking to take the next step-up which is exciting. It’s just working out where NathanPhoto sits in all of this, so if I use this blog to map out what I think it is, then it will be possible people will have a better understanding of it ?

So to do that I guess I have to start at the beginning of my love for photography so I will. I started taking pictures at 6/7 years old, my earliest memory is of grabbing a camera, (a kodak 110 where the handle slide over to form a grip!) to record a moment in time where my Mum and Dad were messing about. I then started to document BMXing taking pictures of friends doing what they did, this transcended into working and selling black and white prints of them, then as I got to 16 I had to make life altering decisions as you are required to do at 16 and was a whisper away from becoming a sparkie but the diverted into art school where I had some great tutors, Colin and Penny who showed me the way (did I mention who was also there at the same time?) then onto Stockport (Thanks Barry!) to education then to the Met (Thanks Jonny) and onto a career in photography one that actually resembles the verb meaning of the word, I worked for City Life, Manchester Council, Getty, Gay Time, MoD, DefJam and various others up until around 2015 where I started the move into teaching, technicianing and education fulltime. Probably did my last paid for job in 2019/20 which is nearly a 30-year career in photography… 

Phew that’s the beginnings of NathanPhoto condensed into 205 words. 

In future blogs I may discuss this further as it crops up, but at the here and now I’m establishing an application for further study and (hopefully if I’m accepted) do a PhD soon moving into a more educational setting. I love to pass all this experience on to people, hence my love of teaching. I see Nathan Photo as a vital part of informing that from photographing buildings that weren’t there, to pr shoots where the elements didn’t come together, to 60 seconds with Beyonce to all the things I’d learnt when I didn’t realise it etc etc. This blog may be my biography !

So that’s where we are at.

As blogs always need pictures and this one is no different, though the choice is very difficult as what one image sums up what I’ve done and what I mean, it’s about me so possibly a self-portrait? How about work from then and now? How about one single image that sums up a 30-year career? How about my most liked image? How about my least liked image? How about a montage?  

The choices for this post are mind boggling. So maybe at this moment the image is tbc… 

Thanks for reading.