I have been a photographer since a child - some of the earliest photographs of me show a Kodak Brownie around my neck! As a young child I was inspired by the late Laon Maybanke, a friend of my mother. Laon was a masterful portrait photographer who published two fine books of portraits: 'Faces' and 'Second Faces' in the 1960s. As a teenager I was fortunate in learning about large-format photography first-hand from a veteran pioneering professional photographer - Mr. Humphrey-Saunders - who worked with 10x8 mahogany and brass field cameras from his high street studio in Pinner, where I grew up, near London, England. This gave me an invaluable grounding in traditional photo-techniques, and taught me the importance of composition. Although I now work mainly in digital and medium format, I still enjoy the discipline and contemplative nature of large format work. I am a freelance photojournalist, stock and fine art photographer, contributing to Rexfeatures, Alamy Images and the Saatchi Gallery, London, specializing in creative/conceptual imagery, news, lifestyle, landscapes, macro, floral and scenic work. My photos have sold around the world to magazines, calendars, newspapers, TV., film production companies etc. I work in both film and digital capture - using the Nikon D2Xs and Nikon D700 for digital capture and a variety of formats from 6x6-6x9 for medium format film work. I accept commissions for all types of location still photography in digital capture, and film format up to 5x4". I am a former freelance officer for the Bristol branch of the National Union of Journalists. I am also a qualified teacher, a qualified psychotherapist/clinical hypnotherapist and non-practising barrister. I am based close to Bath and Bristol, UK.
Russell Binns BA.