There have always been cameras in my life. My grandfather, uncle and father were all snappers. They photographed their families and friends, the aftermath of WW2, their changing way of life. When I was growing up I spent many a rainy day rifling through the family albums and multiple boxes of black and white prints. Their images seemed to be teeming with narratives, imbued, as they were, with our history and the untold stories of the people in them and this is what inspired me.
When I bought my first camera, I walked the streets shooting what I saw. Sometimes it felt a little awkward, like an intrusion, but it seemed important to me and I loved it. I knew nothing of Atget or Cartier Bresson; the Farm Security Administration or the Museum of Modern Art, or any of the other protagonists, movements and institutions that stand at the heart of photographic practice as it is today. I just wanted to take pictures. 50 years on, I'm still doing exactly that.
I hope you enjoy the work.
Stephen J.Vowles. MA.

Read my short stories and other writing on: Stephen J Vowles Substack: Feeding The Compulsion.
https://stephenjvowles.substack.com/?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web&r=2v8ri8