my story
I was born, raised and educated in Dagenham Essex and lived there until the summer of 2002 when family circumstances lead us to move to Halstead, Essex. At the time I had no idea of what Halstead would be like and my biggest concern was all of a sudden I’d gone from being 5 minutes away from my friends to over an hour away.
Looking back - 2002 was a momentous year of change for me not only had I moved to Halstead but in December of that year I took my very first photograph. My friends and I had booked flights to go to New York for a weekend of drinking and sightseeing and a few days before we flew out I decided to buy my first digital camera a £30 bargain from Argos.
I came back from NYC with 645 images and the rest they say is history. It felt so natural taking photographs and from that moment on I was hooked, I photographed everything that inspired me, started to understand light, learnt camera techniques and begun the first steps in mastering my post processing skills. Within a year I had invested heavily in the Nikon D70 DSLR and my love of photography became my obsession and for the first time in my life I knew I’d found the career I wanted for myself for the rest of my life.
Luckily for me my obsession was fuelled by working as a full time photographer for the British Government from 2003 until early 2013, I was absolutely blessed with amazing assignments that took me all over the world working with many different cultures. As my photography career was taking off I was working really hard on my education, I found a photography mentor and immersed myself into workshops in England, Italy and Japan developing my style and growing not only as a photographer but as a person too. My photographic journey so far has led me to develop some amazing friendships with fellow photographers and to think this all started with my £30 camera purchase is crazy. My advice for you is to always follow your dreams, never give up in the pursuit of happiness and job satisfaction. We only get one chance at life so make the most of it, we are very fortunate that photography gives us the opportunity to encapsulate our memories into pieces of history.
Fast forward to April 2013 when I officially took my Wedding and Portrait Business full time and finally after years of talking about it I decided to take that giant “leap of faith” and here I am with the birth of gavin conlan photography Ltd.
This is an exciting new chapter in my life and I can’t wait to embrace all what the future holds for me, it’ll be a challenge but I cannot wait to succeed by producing beautiful imagery and giving you the most amazing photographic experience I can.
All the best,
- Gavin
Q & A Session
Pets: A beautiful cocker spaniel called Holly, if you follow me on Facebook, twitter or instagram then you’d of seen her photographs of her.
My dream job as a child: To be a milkman in Moscow of all places.
Best Job I’ve ever had: Excluding my current job it has to be Odeon Cinema I love movies and made lifelong friendships from that place.
Worst job I’ve ever had: My first ever paper round especially in the winter, that was a real eye opener especially for £6 a week.
Favourite Movie: Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Superbad (McLovin Rules) and as I quote it on every shoot I do it has to be Love Actually.
Favourite Destination: Venice, Italy and Liverpool, UK
Favourite Sport, team and player: Football, Liverpool FC and the almighty goal-scoring machine Robbie Fowler.
Favourite Colour: Red.
Favourite Food: Roast Dinner, Spaghetti Bolognese, Pizza and Indian Food.
Favourite Song: “No Rain” by Blind Melon
Interests: outside of photography – watching Liverpool FC as often as possible, movies (both watching and collecting them), hanging out with family and friends as much as possible and understanding the power of Social Media.
Worst Habit: not blogging enough and not updating my website on a regular basis.
If you have any questions about photography, mentorship or your thinking about booking me then please do get in touch by the "email me" section on here or via my "website" or via my "photography facebook page"
- I'd love to hear from you.