Welcome to Mind The Lens, our mental-health-focused month in partnership with The Photography Movement where we're providing a range of supporting content as well as £20,000 in grants to projects within mental health and photography. To find out more about Mind The Lens, visit our blog post or application page.
"Professional Commercial & Product photographer with a passion for all types of photography based in Newcastle upon Tyne, for my professional work check out www.philiphunton.co.uk. 10% of all profits from gallery sales will go to Changing Minds with Pickup a Penny, helping children and their families with pioneering therapies to support mental health."
How did you get into photography?
"I studied graphic design at college and as part of that, I decided that if I was going to be asked to art direct a design I should understand the fundamentals of all elements involved. Photography is so important to design that my parents bought me a basic Canon Film SLR and one of my lecturers spent his spare time teaching me the basics, so when I come to brief photographers I would have a basic understanding of what I was asking of them.
After several years as a designer, a boss noticed my photographs and asked me to do the images for their brochures and marketing, I was shooting the Nike Headquarters in Sunderland as my first professional shoot. I then opened a studio of my own with a business partner and produced images for packaging etc.
When I left that business I decided to try my hand at professional photography. I loved making images that achieved whatever results that were intended, whether that was to please the eye, record something or present a person or product. I opened my own studio in 2007 with one camera, two lights, and a passion for images both personally and professionally and, within a short time, I was shooting for magazines, developers, and a few big brands.
During the development of my professional studio, I continued to shoot personally and one side fed the other. I love learning, not only about photography but about the things, people, and properties I was photographing.
Today, my passion continues with learning new techniques, photographing wildlife, and almost anything that catches my eye."