Simon Roberts

Brighton-based photographer Simon Roberts studied Human Geography at the University of Sheffield. This has influenced much of his work, which is characterised by large-scale images that explore the collective relationship between people and place and the reflection of social, political and cultural change in the landscape.

Roberts’ first major project Motherland in 2004–05 took him travelling across Russia to investigate ideas of national identity and belonging in this vast country. The experience inspired him to take a closer look at his own homeland and so in 2007 he embarked on a year-long tour of England in a motorhome, photographing the pastimes of ordinary people across the country (often from the roof of his vehicle!)

The resulting work, We English (2007–08), was exhibited nationally and internationally and published as an acclaimed monograph in 2009. Roberts was commissioned as the official artist to record the 2010 UK General Election and he photographed the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Roberts holds a BA Hons in Cultural Geography from The University of Sheffield, and is a regular public speaker and visiting lecturer. He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at University of Cumbria – Institute of the Arts. Outside of his own professional practice he is involved with several not for profit organisations having formerly served as a trustee of Photoworks and currently working as an ambassador for FotoDocument and the Ian Parry Scholarship.

"There are several things I believe the photographs convey, from the psychological – how the British seaside is closely linked to our changing habits as a nation – to the physical – whereby they record vanishing forms of vernacular architecture. The photographs contain elements of faded romance and nostalgia for the quirkiness, and they project some of the innocence that the seaside inhabits in our sense of place."

I recently contacted Simon on Instagram to ask him a couple of questions about his carer. His replies were:

"I’m 49 years old and have been working as a photography since I was 24. I first studied Human Geography at University but decided I wanted to become a photographer. I was drawn to the idea of telling stories with images, and using the camera as a passport into other people’s lives and to travel to new places. I’m self taught, having got my first camera when I was 14. It became an obsession during my teenage years. I don’t have a favourite shoot, however, I had many extraordinary experiences when traveling in Russia for a year in 2004 when I was making photographs for my first book, Motherland."