phphotoimages

In 2017 I suffered a stroke (that's why my references stopped) I fully intend to return to shooting but not until the pandemic has subsided as I use a space in my home to shoot.

I'm Paul Holroyd, I've been taking and making photographs (I can say I literally grew up in a darkroom as my secondary school had one which I used lunchtimes and after school) since my early teens and have been working digitally (at least partially) since 1997 and fully from 2005. I have a degree in the science of/technical side of photography and am an Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society. I worked for 40 years in network television until the stroke forced my retirement. At first as a cameraman then in lighting and picture control controlling the visual output of countless TV shows. Since my work involved producing pictures for other people, still photography is where I try to stretch my creativity for myself. I shoot models mainly for stock, the composite images involve so much work beyond the initial shoot (I create almost all of the sets, costumes, props etc as well as doing the photography). I'm not interested in in doing collaborative/tfp shoots or commissioned work.

I'm principally interested in creating images inspired by mythology, Victorian neoclassical art, modern fantasy art and illustration, gothic and early epic cinema. The images often involve combining people with specially made costumes, props, sets (usually miniatures) and and the very occasional computer generated bit.

I have my own dedicated creative space which depending on where I am in a project serves as both a workshop and studio, its not as big as I'd like but it allows me to work at the relaxed pace I prefer. I choose models for what they could be, not who they are, who can act out a role to fit into a previsualised image or improvise on a theme. My normal way of working is to pay models for their time, they are welcome to use images in their portfolio but finished images should be regarded as a bonus, not part of the deal. I don't use other peoples stock photographs, so producing all the elements of an image can take a huge amount of time and effort, this is something I am often not capable of giving especially since the stroke, so the number of final images produced can be quite small and appear a very long time after a shoot.

Albums