Gareth Phillips was born in Cardiff, Wales. He graduated from University of Wales, Newport, in September 2007, with a degree in Documentary Photography. In 2007 he was accepted into the Eddie Adams Workshop in New York, in which he won the B & H Assignment Award in recognition of his work.

In 2008, Gareth became a freelance photographer, regularly commissioned by the Guardian, The Sunday Times Magazine and The British Council. His photographs have also appeared in, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, British Journal for Photography, The Observer, CNN Traveler and others.

Gareth’s work has been internationally recognized in exhibitions and awards, most notably the Ian Parry Award 2007, Welsh Livery Society Award for Photographic Excellence 2007, the Magenta Photography Awards 2008 and the British Council Open Cities Photographic Commission.

Gareth recently joined the MJR Photographic Collective in New York and works out of London and Cardiff, UK.

www.wearemjr.com

When and how did you become interested in Photography?

Photography kind of just found me. I was injured on a surfing trip in France, and decided to take images while i was laid up on the beach. It just developed from there for me. I knew that i had found something important in my life. i was passionate about it, and i actively decided to pursue photography with every ounce of energy.

What gear do you mainly shoot with?

I use a 5D, Mamiya 7, Canon AE1, Coronet 6 x 9 and what ever else comes my way..

What is your #1 source of inspiration?

the frames between frames, images that i never knew were there..

Many times photographers find themselves with a full schedule of paying gigs, and end up with little time for doing the work they truly love. Do you struggle with finding time for your personal work?

I think struggle is the wrong word for me. I battle and fight to get personal work completed, and i don’t allow anything to get in its way. My personal work is the only reason i make images. Getting paid is a bonus, and I’m very grateful to be in a position where i can make money from images, but its not something that i allow to get in the way of what i have to do. If I have a project i want to work on, and i need to financially support it, i either go back to working on a building site or use the money i earn from assignments and commissions to support it. I actually find the time i work on building sites very motivational. Having to work in physical environment allows me to spend a lot of time contemplating how i might photograph a project. So for me, i make the time happen for my personal work. Nothing gets in the way..

What is your all time favorite genre to shoot (portraiture, conceptual, commercial, etc..)?

Something that allows me to influence the viewers perspective.. at the moment i am shooting a lot of conceptual work that i get very excited about..

What is one thing that makes your work unique>?

I don’t think i have unique work, but one thing that i seem to be doing more than others is looking at the floor a lot, looking down and exploring the world from what i find on the floors and metaphorically commenting on the world.

if you could photograph anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Hunter S Thompson, documenting that life would be such an adventure..

what’s your dream photo field trip?

To go to a desolate island, with the only way is to swim across a channel, Take a 1000 rolls of film and Mamiya 7, (water proof bag of coarse) a knife and some rope, and have a year to live off the island, photographing how I went about my life there.

what’s your post production photo process?

For Film – Drop films at lab – Contacts – Work Prints – Edit – Final Prints

For Digital – Import – Curves – Caption – Edit – Work Prints – Edit – Final Prints

if you had unlimited resources to purchase any type of camera, what would it be?

I would really like a 10 x 8 Large Format camera and a small van for a mobile dark room. I want to start making daguerreotypes..

who are your favorite shooters and why

For me its the family that is our photography collective, MJR – Brandon Thibodeaux, Ying Ang, Mustafah Abdulaziz, Matthew Craig and Julius Metoyer, They are an inspirational force that i am honored to share a collective with. My brother, Dominic Nahr, our friendship and dialogue has helped me become the photographer i am today. As for inspiration, people like Philip Jones Griffiths (Fellow Welsh Boy) Clive Landen, Trent Park, Koudelka, Bert Hardy, Burrows, to name but a few have all been instrumental in inspiring me to take photos.

what has been the shining moment of your career thus far?

I think joining MJR has been it for me.

samples of Gareth’s work: