SAS Who Dares Wins

A nice little job for The Times following their journalist on the press day for the new Channel 4 series of SAS Who Dares Wins. It was more gruelling than I expected. After some mild exercise tasks and a nice forest walk, there were smoke bombs and all the journos were chucked in the back of a van hooded and cuffed, aggressively interrorgated and then told to jump into river.

And the winner is…………. Me!

Great to win this photo competition and a fab hamper of yummy local goods just in time for Christmas. A big thank you to Locate East Sussex and Eggs To Apples.

Anchor Lady

A great little assignment involving 2 shoots with CBS tv journalist and UK correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. American TV magazine, CBS Watch, asked me to shadow Liz during the Trump demo in central London and then get some portraits in their Chiswick studio.

A Day With The Bruderhof

Some shots from an enjoyable day documenting life at the Bruderhof community in Robertsbridge. I've been fascinated by these people since I first met them 2 years ago taking pictures for their furniture catalogue. There are 300 people living in a christian commune in beautiful East Sussex countryside. They share the income from their nursery school furniture business and pool all their talents concentrating on looking after each other in a group where no-one is richer or poorer than anyone else.

The Bruderhof, german for "place of brothers" were founded in 1920 with their roots in european baptist traditions and similarities to anabaptist groups like the Hutterites and Amish. They believe that communal living is the best way to serve Christ and it seams that their way of pooling resources and living together without property builds mutual trust with an emphasis on family and looking after each other. This I noticed particularly in the respect given to their older members who have roles in the business even in very old age and also with the children who spend much of their time outside and learning woodcrafts.

What is immediately striking is the way they dress, particularly the women who wear headscarves and long home-made dresses which adds to the other-worldly old-fashioned feel of the place. The women say that this gives them freedom from fashion and comparisons with each other..

I'm not religious but my take-away from the day was how genuine and happy these people are, they really seem to have hit on a special way of living. They continue to intrigue me and I'm grateful for being invited in.