Dave West

For the past 30 years I have been active as an independent, freelance photographer in the West Midlands area. I have undertaken photography commissions for publications, and run community-based photography projects in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Between 1986 and 1992 I devised and directed the Hereford Photographic Festival (which continued as a professionally-run Festival with international standing until 2012).

 

I have been a founder member of a number of photography groups, most recently the Marches Independent Photography group based in Shropshire:http://www.mipgroup.org.uk/.

In 1993 I settled in Shrewsbury, where I have continued to produce and exhibit work. Since 1996 I have taken part most years in Shrewsbury Open Studios (http://shrewsburyopenstudios.co.uk/).

 

Throughout all this work, I have been fascinated by photography’s capacity to record, celebrate, distort or disguise, through poetry and science. Documentary experience has often led me to work in themes and create narratives. Painting and literature continue to inform my use of lyrical composition.