“I am the storm” is a culmination of ideas slowly infused in a blend of my creative disorganisation. I fell in love with photography and design in 2003 when I first got my hands on an SLR camera. I was soon spending my pocket money on roll after roll of Ilford HP5. At College, I studied photography under the influential guidance of Dave Trotter (RIP) and never left home without my kit bag. I even built my own mini dark room with kit I scavenged from eBay.
A huge Ansel Adams fan, I was particularly fascinated by landscapes and their ephemeral nature. I went to University to pursue this curiosity, tried to become a scientist and accidentally fell into a data-driven career. In the process, my creativity fell by the wayside.
20 years in the making
Fast forward to 2023 and I’ve succumbed to an itch I’d put off scratching for two full decades. Ridiculous, perhaps, but that’s neurodivergence! That and falling for the mantra that grades ‘matter’, careers are ‘important’ and a stable income is worth dying for. More on that another day!
Having spent lockdown pondering why everywhere I went felt wet, grey and depressing, I came to a stark realisation. Perhaps I am the storm. Perhaps my dormant creativity is the source of an ever growing sense of unease. Of untapped potential, and a life not lived. Deep thoughts indeed.
Once I accepted that I could yet ‘design, for more than just fun’, the rest fell into place alarmingly swiftly. Here I am – with website, email and even a bank account.
Precision creativity
A scientific analyst by trade, I inadvertently built my working life around ‘change’ – detecting, observing and mapping dynamism in the world we live in. I’ve surveyed forests, mapped the sea floor and watched Earth change from all manner of satellite imagery. I was one of the first to adopt Google Earth as a tool to measure environmental change, and a pioneer in the use of 3D laser scanners mapping forests. Key to all of these exotic and often complex endeavours is a need to draw clarity from complexity.
I apply a critical and careful eye to the most complex of ideas in order to tease out precise, meaningful detail. In the day job, this means being ‘on it’ constantly to make sure I communicate scientific results concisely, to spec and on time.
As “I am the storm”, I get to play with data and make maps for fun. It can be contagious. Watch this space.
