Blog
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The Empty Forum
On TimeI stood on the Capitoline Hill in the early evening and looked out across the Forum.There was no one there.This was the time of Covid. Rome under lockdown, the world holding its breath. I had the Forum vista to myself.. something travellers have dreamed of for centuries and almost…
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The Square Colosseum, Rome.
On the Palazzo della Civiltà ItalianaThere’s a building in Rome that shouldn’t be beautiful.The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana stands in EUR like a statement that refuses to be retracted. Six storeys of travertine. Row after row of identical arches. They call it the Square Colosseum — Italian Rationalism borrowing Rome’s…
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The Taste of a Lemon
On PortraitureTry to describe what a fresh Amalfi lemon tastes like, picked straight from the tree.You’ll start with the taste and realise almost immediately that the taste is the smallest part of it. It’s the smell of the leaves baking in the sun. The soil breathing in the heat. Salt…
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On Documentary and Portrait
Photography likes categories. Portrait. Documentary. Commercial. Fine art. Neat boxes. I don’t believe in them. I never have.Whether I am standing on a street in Rome watching the light change, working with a subject in a studio in London, or walking through my home town in Sandwich at the hour…
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The Weight of Stillness
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Black and white legacy portrait - The Weight of Stillness - by Tom Parsons
There’s something about this portrait that resists being rushed when viewed.It doesn’t perform, it doesn’t ask, it just is.The stillness in it isn’t the kind you get from a subject trying to hold a pose. It’s…
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Substance Over Data
We are living through a strange acceleration of information, where human-defined art is fighting to preserve its rightfull place in an ever-expanding digital world. More importantly the issue of worth is now fundemental to being an artist to survive. The cultural landscape is saturated with images that require no human…
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The Erasure of Detail
I have noticed a strange trend in contemporary portraiture. An obsession with the soft image: shallow depth of field, blurred backgrounds, muted palettes, and colours so over-sweetened they feel almost synthetic.It is easy to do. Easier still to replicate. In some circles, it has become the default language of portrait…
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The Psychology of Being Seen
Most portraits are negotiations.Between the person and the version of themselves they believe the world wants to see.By the time someone steps in front of a camera, the performance has often already begun. Posture changes. Expression tightens. A version of competence, confidence, or control quietly takes over. Not because…
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The Gold Standard. Chris Cowdrey and the Meaning of Legacy
Legacy Portrait Photography of Chris CowdreyA recent sitting with Chris offered something more than a portrait session. It became a reflection on legacy, leadership, and what it means to be visually remembered.Chris Cowdrey and the legacy of Kent cricketIn the history of Kent and English cricket, the…
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The Legacy Portrait™
What is a Legacy Portrait?Most photographs answer a simple question. What does this person look like? They are taken quickly, shared, and just as quickly forgotten. They live on phones, buried under thousands of others, rarely returned to.A legacy portrait is something else entirely. It is not made for…
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Dreamland is open
Aside from my portraiture, I have been documenting my travels in black and white for years.This substantial ongoing body of work includes street photography, architecture, landscapes and environmental portraiture. I recently collated a section on my website to showcase this ongoing personal project.Dreamland is open.This is Dreamland in…
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Composition as Power
The Camera Angle That Changes Everything.When a portrait features a bare-shouldered subject, some assume it’s inherently voyeuristic—that nudity in frame reads as vulnerability, exposure, surrender. Composition tells the truth about who holds power in the image. What I want to talk about is camera angle, because it fundamentally rewrites what…
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The 100mm Macro: Beyond Natural Vision
There is a common rule that a portrait should capture a natural likeness to the subject. How we choose as photographers to translate this in our delivery is a very personal approach. The human eye is subjective; it prioritises the center of our field of view and softens at the…
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The Exchange
Someone from an agency once described my portraits as “extraordinarily penetrating, present portraits that have a visceral connection with the subjects.” I appreciated it. I also didn’t fully understand it at the time.I do now.After a portrait session I am drained in a way that has nothing to do with…
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The Construction of Presence
When a subject sits in front of me, I am not looking for a “look.” I am looking for the weight of their presence.Portraiture is often misunderstood as a passive act — the photographer simply “capturing” what is there. For me, it is deliberate construction. Every decision carries consequence. The…
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Civita di Bagnoregio
Civita di Bagnoregio and Valle dei Calanchi.A bit of a break from my portraiture work. These two images are part of an ongoing personal documentary project exploring the places I visit around the world — documenting human-defined landscapes and our relationship within them, through street photography, architecture, and environmental portraiture.Civita…
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f2.8 or f32
The Hard Truth of f/32.This is my signature style. It is a physical, heavy way of working that leaves nowhere to hide.The Pros: You get everything. Every pore, every thread of fabric, every element in the background is sharp. It creates a sense of scale and presence. It doesn’t…
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Karlos Moir | Blacksmith
Karlos lives in the world of fire and historical reconstruction. He is a professional blacksmith and historical reenactor based in the UK.He is a man defined by his trade. A blacksmith by day, spending his hours in the heat of the forge — and by weekend, a medieval reenactor who…
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Celloman
Ivan Hussey — known as Celloman — is one of those musicians who exists in a category of his own.We shot these portraits at a location near Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. No studio — an old army canvas mess tent as a backdrop, mixed light, natural and strobe working together…
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Vintage Soul Modern Spirit
Three men. A bar. A bottle of Chivas. What’s not to like.I was commissioned to shoot a series of portraits as part of a campaign for Chivas Regal in collaboration with Havas London. A full production — TV crew, producers, grips, a DP, the whole apparatus of a large commercial…
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The Jam
Nathaniel Hall — better known as Afrika Baby Bam of the Jungle Brothers — is hip-hop royalty. One of the founding members of the Native Tongues collective that redefined the aesthetic and philosophy of hip-hop in the mid-1980s alongside De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Queen Latifah. A…
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Saturday Morning Reflection
Saturday Morning Reflection. Saturday morning coffee and catching up on Instagram, I came across a post from Dr. Michelle Patrick. Her focus on “self-mastery"—the crossover between the precision of biomedical science and the holistic nature of Traditional Chinese Medicine—it is a compelling perspective on how we navigate our own health…
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Emily Erlam Landscape Architect
Emily Erlam is one of the most respected voices in British landscape design. Since transitioning from a career in television to garden design in 2008, she has built a reputation for work that is simultaneously rigorous and romantic — what she herself describes as “minimalist yet frothy.” Strong, uncomplicated structures…
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Stripping Back the Layers
My Philosophy of Character-Led PortraitureIn my ongoing portrait series, the goal isn’t just to capture a likeness—it is to document a person.To produce a meaningful, timeless documentary of the people I meet requires more than just technical skill. It requires trust, time, and an understanding of what it truly takes…
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The Evolution of the Portrait
The 1950s represented a golden age of portraiture. Influenced by Hollywood glamour and the precision of photographers like Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, the era was defined by intentionality. Lighting was architectural. Poses were deliberate. The subject wasn’t simply captured -they were presented. There was a sense of statuesque beauty…
