Biography
I am 36 years old and have been a professional photographer for 19 years, starting in 1996 as a darkroom assistant and wireman for the Daily Record and Sunday Mail in Scotland. I continued my progression in Scotland, becoming the youngest staffer at The Scotsman where I worked for 2 years before joining The Herald in Glasgow for a short stint before being headhunted by Getty Images to help launch their London bureau in 2002.
My patch with Getty Images was Europe, Africa and the Middle East and I traveled much of the time, covering stories including the Iraq war, Afghanistan war, famines in Africa,the West Bank , general elections in the UK, European football championships and hundreds of live news and feature stories across my patch.
In 2005, I was approached to join The Guardian to help launch the new style of broadsheet and be involved in the creation of the visual look of the paper, including many characteristics which are still in play to this day. For example, Eyewitness was something I worked on to create a showcase for photography. It still forms an integral part of my work at The Guardian today.
