My Passion for Photography.

I’ve spent my life dealing with words – written but mainly spoken, on the radio. That’s come with the responsibility to be thoughtful and at times careful about what I say. There’s something liberating about working with images – the viewer can supply their own story. Photography has been an enjoyable hobby all my life and I’ve become more passionate about it as I’ve got older.

I was given my first ‘proper’ 35mm camera for Christmas in 1980 when I was 13 – a manual Fujica STX1-N, which I still have. It proved an ideal introduction, as I had to learn the basics about aperture, shutter and film speeds, depth of field etc. My Dad was a talented artist and, as a teenager, I had a few photographs accepted alongside his sketches in the annual amateurs’ exhibition at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull.

I was the first person in my family to go to university and, influenced in large part by Dad, studied a subject which combined words and lots and lots of pictures, History of Art at the University of Manchester. I came away with a first class degree, after writing a dissertation on the subject matter of British picture (commemorative) stamps entitled ‘Perforated Propaganda’. I examined the subject matter of them all, concluding that they were used as a way for the UK to use soft power, projecting a carefully chosen image to the country and the world. For a long time I thought I’d continue with a career in images, as an art historian, museum / gallery curator or photographer. I had a place to study for a Master’s degree at the prestigious Courtauld Institute in London but the attractions of journalism and radio proved too strong!

I switched fully to digital in 2008. Although I have a big ‘posh’ camera, I now shoot mainly on an iPhone or a pocket Canon with an optical zoom, editing – when the mood takes me – in Lightroom. As it says on my Instagram feed, “I like finding beauty in everyday life”. Follow on IG: @andrewedwardsleeds

In 2020 I had two images longlisted in the national Landscape Photographer of the Year competition: one taken near the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield, the other on my walk to work in Leeds on a cold December morning.

If you’re interested in any of the photographs in this gallery, do contact me.