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Alex Bamford
I’m a freelance photographer and art director based in Brighton. For the last 10 years I’ve been shooting landscapes by moonlight, more recently with the inclusion of a pyjama clad sleepwalker.
Michéla Griffith
In 2012 I paused by my local river and everything changed. I’ve moved away from what many expect photographs to be: my images deconstruct the literal and reimagine the subjective, reflecting the curiosity that water has inspired in my practice. Water has been my conduit: it has sharpened my vision, given me permission to experiment and continues to introduce me to new ways of seeing.
Alex Bamford’s solution to the perennial problem of fitting photography around work has been to go out and make images by moonlight. He’s been doing this for 9 years and the resulting images have a slightly surreal quality to them. He’s designing and sometimes populating, a set as much as recording a landscape.
Can you tell readers a little about yourself – your education, early interests and career – and the environments that have shaped you?
I was brought up in a small village in Cornwall but moved to London after studying Graphic Design. I worked as an advertising art director in London for over 30 years which led me to work with a wide range of photographers. I moved to Brighton almost 20 years ago and have been a long suffering commuter ever since.
How and when did you first become interested in photography?
I have early memories of going out on photographic day trips with my mum who was at art school at the time. I bought my first camera, a Pentax Spotmatic, in 1980 as part of the required shopping list for my Graphics course.
Who (photographers, artists or individuals) or what has most inspired you, or driven you forward in your own development as a photographer?
My early photographic bubble was limited to those that worked in the advertising world, though on accession that extended to the likes of Michael Kenna and Brian Griffin. I admired those who managed to carry a style across a number of different subject areas like David Stewart, Ashton Keiditsch and Nadav Kander. Working with Matt Stuart opened my eyes to the rich vein of street photographers like Garry Winogrand and Alex Webb.
I also love the experimental work of Harry Callahan and the narratives created by Trent Parke.