Jon Parker Lee celebrates 10 years as a freelance photographer with an exhibition looking back on his images and telling tales from behind the scenes . From Paul McCartney to Paul Daniels the exhibition takes in riots to raucous football celebrations and gives an insight into the daily world of a jobbing photographer on his travels.
“After ten years surviving in this fiercely competitive business I want to look back at what I’ve shot. It’s the most diverse and entertaining mix of images you could see in a solo show. That really sums up doing press photography and being a freelance. I think it’s a really captivating collection of pictures and stories. For example, you’d think Mike Tyson would be hard work to photograph, but he’s incredibly calm compared to multimillionaire Ryanair owner Michael O’Leary, who’s just comes across as unhinged,” said Jon.
Though covering just ten years the images cover the move from film to digital photography and depict an interesting decade that takes in social shifts such as gay marriage, the economic downturn and the fall and rise of political fortunes.
“You get to see all kinds of lives, from people living on sink estates where the burglars are stealing the roofs from over their heads, to back stage with the world’s biggest selling music acts; and the latter isn’t generally much more glamorous than the former,” explains Jon.
