My work begins with questions rather than predetermined answers. Whether working with photography, video and audio, I choose the medium that best serves each project, allowing the story itself to determine how it should be told. I’m interested in long and short form documentary practice as a way of exploring the relationships between people, place and how communities are shaped over time through ‘lived’experience.
Over the past two decades I have developed documentary projects here in the UK and internationally, alongside exhibitions, editorial and commissioned work, including a number of years working as a unit stills photographer within the film and television industry. That experience continues to inform my documentary practice, particularly in the way I think about narrative, atmosphere and visual sequencing. My work has been published and commissioned by organisations including National Geographic, China Daily, Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror Group) and The Lowry. I have successfully received 3 Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants which included my first book, The Midland Hotel in collaboration with multi award winning author and Booker Prize nominee, Sarah Hall, published by Dewi Lewis.
Alongside my creative practice, I teach Multimedia Journalism at Manchester Metropolitan University. Teaching is not separate from my work; it is part of an ongoing conversation about how stories are constructed, how visual languages evolve, how photographers and photojournalism develop independent ways of seeing. Working with students continually informs my own practice, just as my professional work shapes the way I teach.
All images © Simon Webb