Angus Taverner
“Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow, across that angry sea”
Each of us responds to the places where we live and to which we travel: the reassurance of the familiar, excitement and sometimes awe at the surprise or shock of the new, and occasionally uncertainty - or even fear - when we find ourselves challenged by the environment around us. I believe that these responses shape our take on the world: our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts and ultimately our view of life. It is what makes us human, and I think it is this response and search for connections that I strive to capture in my photographic work.
Angus Taverner
It feels as though I have had a camera in my hands for most of my life. My parents gave me my first camera when I was 10 years old and I have many happy memories of roaming the hills and woods of the Worcestershire countryside, snapping away at pretty much anything that caught my attention. But even then, I think I was attracted by the creativity of photography and its ability to show other people how I look at the world.
I have been fortunate to travel through myriad landscapes, to meet so many interesting people and marvel at their ingenuity and fortitude. And to spend equally happy periods of isolation simply enjoying the lonely essence of sailing offshore or being in far-off places where nature still dominates. But as much as I relish the experience of being far out to sea, or the remoteness of empty icefields, deserts and mountains, I also welcome the crush and bustle of city life; watching how people interact as we pursue our different lives.
Along the way I have been a soldier, a humanitarian aid worker and a public policy consultant. And now I devote my life to my first love: photography. I focus on making images of landscapes, big and small, remote or urban, that convey the essence of the moment - not just a record of a lovely location but an effort to tell the story of that time and place - the sense of being there and why it might be important. In turn, this reflects my restless spirit, my love of adventure, my unceasing pursuit of interesting encounters, and my enjoyment of new experiences. I also hope that my work reflects shared concern for the future of the wonderful world we live in: celebrating our diversity, helping our climate, handling growing populations, and resolving the frictions these pressures too often create.
Lofoten Islands, Northern Norway
Together, these different strands of my personality inform my inner landscape, my photographer’s eye, and shape my outward view of the world. It is this response to life around us - people, emotions, sounds, smells and nature’s rhythms - that sits at the heart of my photographic practice. I am an innately curious observer, sometimes finding beauty and intrigue in the most mundane or downbeat places. This is who I am. This is what I want to share. I hope you will enjoy my work.