Simon started off his career in photography in 1986 as a photographic assistant with design agency D.B.N in Birmingham England.
DBN was a award winning advertising agency with large drive-in photographic studio’s on the site of an old toy factory in Harborne, Birmingham. It was, in it’s day one of the best outside of London with a wide range of clients and facilities.
Six photographers worked long hours shooting a wide variety of work from cars to room sets, It was the perfect grounding for any assistant to gain the knowledge required to be a good photographer.
The agency had two photographic studios including well equipped darkrooms and a building which housed the designers and artists,
Intrigued with the photography and design going on around him, Simon started shooting ‘tests’ mainly people photographs. This was a unique situation and he would bounce ideas around with the other designers there, and his father who was also a photographer.
The company took Simon on after a few years training and he started shooting advertising photography with the odd fashion or glamour job.
With the work in hand he started to develop his printing techniques. Once confident enough to repeat the results achieved in the darkrooms to a consistent level, he applied them to the work he was shooting.
At the age of 20, he became the youngest affiliate member of the British Institute of Professional Photographers and in the process, changed their attitude’s and policies on age and Licentiate ship. Working as a speaker on the Kodak Pro road show he demonstrated his different style of printing and lighting. He also joined the Association of Fashion and Editorial Photographers in London where his work was featured in their “Introducing” exhibition. This is where Simon met his first agent Marie, there head hunting photographers for her fashion client’s in Paris and Germany.
