My Cage was published in Darkly Art Magazine in April 2024 and made the cover!

Sometimes I have an idea and although I have doubts about whether it makes sense to anyone but me, I have to run with it because otherwise it becomes an itch in my brain.

This project began because I was thinking about how great it is that an increasing number of brands are using a more diverse range of models in their advertising campaigns. I then started to think that ideally in future, this won’t even be a noticeable thing. I began to wonder how these ‘new’ models feel about the fact that they are so often hired because of the group that they represent - which is great, but not the same as being hired for who they are as individuals.

So the idea grew to photograph a diverse range of models, chat to them about their experiences, and photograph them as individuals.

The project needed something to pull it together and I’d been thinking for a while that birds are the ultimate representation of stereotyping. Nobody considers a bird as an individual - only as a representative of its species. Additionally we have the useful analogy of putting birds in cages which is not unlike putting people into boxes - something bound to have a negative impact on their mental health

This project was a challenge in many ways. Firstly I had wanted to get out of my comfort zone and shoot with set ups that I’d not tried before and using approaches that were new to me. That meant that I hated how many of the images looked when I first looked at them on the computer! I knew that these new approaches required a different approach to editing - but it took many rounds to get the mood I wanted for each ‘bird’ but even more to get them to hang together.

Secondly this backdrop is getting retired! It was a total nightmare to work with. I liked it on the back of the camera, but on the computer I hated it and it required so much work to get it where I wanted it. I should have known better as its given me trouble in the past but I keep thinking it must be me doing something wrong - time for it to go!

Finally I wanted so badly to do the models, hair and makeup artists and clothing makers justice that I fretted over every decision when I should have trusted my instincts. I ended up back where my gut had me starting, but it was a LONG scenic route to get there.

Shooting personal work is a vital part of staying fresh as a photographer. Opportunities to do so can be rare and its also hard to treat yourself as the client rather than worrying all the time about everyone else who is involved and what they want. I need to work on slowing down, and on perfecting shots slowly and not rushing around because my brain tells me I’m wasting people’s time.

The concept of this project is, with hindsight, probably a bit abstract and opaque and certainly that’s something to bear in mind for the future. That said, I learnt a lot and some of the images do tell the story I was searching for - so I’m happy with that.