Why did you become a photographer?
It’s more ‘how’ than why.
It wasn’t a conscious decision – more a happy accident – and I’d have made a terrible architect.
I was happier volunteering to take progress shots instead of being at a desk.
Is there any one project that promoted your career?
Absolutely – photographing the Soane Museum – written by Jonathan Glancey and published in ‘Interiors’. (Later becoming the World of Interiors)
This was loved overseas – especially in the US. Two very prestigious publications; House and Garden – very different to its UK relation, and the Magazine Antiques.
Tell me about one project you did that is memorable.
I’m lucky there are quite a lot.
Philip Johnson’s garden around his Glass House in New Canaan. Such an iconic project and to walk around the grounds and drink gin & tonic with him in that house was special.
What has influenced the way you look at architecture?
I’m influenced by painting much more than photography. In particular the calm interiors by the Dutch 17th-century painter Pieter de Hooch. They appeal to my appetite for space and relationships of spaces to each other. The layering of spaces leading from one area to another and his inclusion of people adds scale and social relevance.
I’m sometimes criticised for the absence of people where they may have been relevant – but absent, this has often been out of my control.
What is the most unnerving or even frightening encounter you have had while working?
That happened very early in my career. I was working in an award-winning overseas government building. I was marched off the premises by armed guards, escorted back to the hotel and told to stay there. I was accused of vandalism because the marble floors
had been damaged. Something the cleaners had done when they moved a forest of
large potted plants. Apparently, this was my fault.
This was a time before mobile phones and communication was slow.
The British Consul told me to leave the country – there were two areas where they couldn’t help; vandalism and a breach of security – I was in a Ministry building with a camera.
I stayed – I really wanted to finish the job.
It was a very stressful time. After several days the Minister, having been away, returned to the country, it was resolved and I was allowed back into the building – with the camera.
And now?
I am enjoying photography with less pressure. My own projects and projects without strict deadlines. I would never have had my life any other way, but it’s not until you slow down that you realise that for a long time, you’ve been running on adrenaline and dark chocolate Toblerone.