This shop series of pictures started with a portrait taken of John Bello “The Tailor”, John was the first of what was intended to be a small collection of pictures, it actually became something much larger. Taking his portrait fueled my interest in this subject and recording the independent small businesses and the local characters that run them.



We have such a rich and diverse range of shops and businesses in the UK, my efforts are concentrated in my local area of Thanet. The willingness of so many shopkeepers to be involved in this photographic series has given me a wealth of accessible people to photograph. I have been surprised by their welcoming nature and how willing they are to be photographed, after all for many of us being photographed can be an uncomfortable process.



These businesses are the hub of our community, the future success for many of them is far from safe. The recession, bureaucracy and many more factors have put these individual and family owners under ever-increasing strain. In my work with these shopkeepers I wanted to document the wealth of individual interior spaces and the people that occupy them.



I found the owners to be hugely inspiring and a pleasure to document them. I see the men and women in this ongoing series to be a quintessential part of our British culture.