Andy Chadwick: Biography

I was born and raised in a small town about ten miles West of Leeds, in Yorkshire, and throughout my teenage years I wanted to be an architect. Daunted by the prospect of seven years study and work experience before qualifying, I thought it would be useful to take a year out and work in an architect’s office to ensure my suitability before committing to university. Within that year I realised that architecture would not be the right career for me.

After a period spent refocusing, I ended up in food retail and, at the age of 23, became a Departmental Manager at a large Morrison’s supermarket near my home town. About a year earlier a friend from schooldays, Bill Stephenson, sold me his first camera when he upgraded. Bill later recommended a week-long residential course run by Paul Hill at the Photographers’ Place in the Derbyshire Peak District.

Walking and talking photography all day and every day for a week, with like-minded friends, convinced me that I wanted to be a photographer. On returning to work I resigned from my job and moved to London (age 25) to pursue that life. Initially I had no job and nowhere to live, but I felt (somewhat naively, it turns out) that I was following my destiny.

A life in photography eluded me, however. I did, though, spend some time as an assistant to freelance photographer Ken Davies, which gave me valuable experience in commercial, industrial, studio and fashion photography. Eventually, I began living and working at an artists’ centre where I played a part in establishing the October Gallery in Bloomsbury.

Later I worked on different projects, with different organisations, overseas. At first in the Australian outback for four years, initially as Development Manager of a tropical pasture regeneration project in the Kimberley, before a spell on a cattle station and then as a crew leader with a geophysical survey company. This led to contracts in remote environments from West Australia to the rainforests of Madagascar and from the high jebel of southern Oman to the rocky desert of North Yemen. As contracts grew scarce, for three years I worked as a tour leader in the European Alps, Egypt, India and Nepal.

I then took a two-year contract with Save the Children in Ethiopia, representing the organisation at local Aid Co-ordination meetings in Addis Abeba, alongside colleagues from national, local and international aid agencies and local branches of the UN family, such as UNICEF, UNHCR, World Food Programme, etc. My role also involved travelling to support Save the Children projects across the country after the fall of the previous, Communist government and the ensuing humanitarian emergency.

After Ethiopia, I set up a programme of relief and rehabilitation projects as Oxfam’s representative in Bosnia, during the war in former-Yugoslavia. Based in the town of Tuzla, and under blockade by opposition forces, this involved recruiting teams of local staff and, along with a deputy who travelled out from the UK with me, establishing projects in support of women casualties of ‘war trauma’ (essentially, rape victims), destitute families of primary school children, adults and children with physical disabilities, and other vulnerable groups displaced by conflict, some of whom had been ‘cleansed’ from Srebrenica.

During this prolonged period overseas, opportunities for me to take photographs were severely restricted and I became disengaged from photography. Due to the unfavourable environmental and security conditions under which I worked, and the nature of my responsibilities, carrying a camera would have been a distraction.

On my return to the UK I married Martha, whom I met while working for Save the Children in Ethiopia, and continued to work in the charity sector, including an extended period as chief executive of the Repetitive Strain Injury Association.

Martha and I then set up education and health projects in support of primary schools and a local hospital among vulnerable communities in the remote north of Ethiopia. By early 2018, the conflict and ensuing insecurity around our target area brought those projects to an end.

Since being back in the UK and living in London I have rekindled my interest in photography but it is only in 2022 that I feel I have really found my niche, resulting in this website. I use my camera as a way of engaging with people and try to ensure my photographs have an element of humanity about them by recording authentic experiences, with positive images of characterful people.

Personal Statement

My aim in capturing these images is to record an expression of individuality – a sense of independence – and bring it to the fore. There is a certain energy around people who, with confidence, are prepared to reveal something of their inner selves.

Eye contact is vitally important as this is the only way I can truly communicate, with respect and humility towards the subject, to reveal something of their individuality, character and personality. It is about building rapport with people (albeit fleetingly) and capturing an element of their spirit.

The way they manifest may be about culture, rituals or a way of life. Often, a costume worn at times of celebration, a certain hairstyle, makeup or body art is a declaration of individuality. For others, more permanent alterations suggest a defiant stand against convention and towards an alternative way of life.

Most of these photographs recognise people who are making a statement about who they are. They are a record of how the subjects want to be seen. I draw no conclusions, nor do I make judgements… I simply observe and record.

Whether a means of expression or a cultural statement, a display of ancestry or a record of a long life, many images in this website compel me to examine my own nature, attitudes and prejudices. Be it in the exuberance of Carnival performer, the dignity and stoicism on the distinctive face of an old man, or the purposeful decoration of elaborate tattoos.

Undoubtedly, it as a mark of confidence and trust in me when a person I have never met before allows me to take their photograph. In response I am compelled to act honourably, and to the best of my ability, to show them as they would wish to be seen. As they truly are.

There is a strong element of responsibility beholden of me when capturing a person’s image. This will be different for each photographer, but I believe it is important to be comfortable with one’s own conscience and not to take images which offend, ridicule, misrepresent or, otherwise, take advantage of people. This doesn’t mean not taking pictures of funny situations or people acting in a curious way – I am careful to be generous about it, though, and laugh with people, rather than laugh at them. I see them as kindred spirits taking a stand, and by publishing these images I stand with them. It is a form of empowerment to photograph a willing subject and publish the result. If done with the right intention, it is an empowerment that works in both directions.