I’ve been a book person most of my life. I love books. Even whilst I was completing my Photography Degree I was working part-time in a book shop (in Muswell Hill), and afterwards, when I was struggling to get started as a Photographer, I was sidetracked, and spent 15 years working as a Bookseller, in various art galleries and high street stores in London, Brighton, Cardiff, Peterborough and Lancaster, then later I started my own business, Hardback Hotel, selling collectible First Editions, and from 2003-2012 I worked at Lancaster Literature Festival. Oh, yes I’ve done my book time people!
And along the way I’ve had opportunity to photograph quite a few writers.
I get a special buzz though when my photos appear on book jackets, and this year I’m delighted to say I have two!!
First up is Rosie Garland’s “Vixen”, which was published earlier this summer by HarperCollins. I photographed Rosie some years back when she was working on a Flax publication for Litfest, and it’s one of those shots that her agent chose to licence from me for the cover.
It was a slightly different process for Carys Davies new short story collection “The Redemption of Galen Pike” (published next month by Salt Publishing). Carys, a Lancaster writer, called me up to ask if I could update her profile shots, as she had a new book coming out in the autumn and would likely need photos for publicity. As it turned out, it was one of these shots that was selected for the jacket.
