Ian Hoskin

I was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1955. In the mid-70s, having not done at all well at school, I decided to take time out and go hitch-hiking, I got as far as Afghanistan. Up until that point, I had no real interest in taking photographs, but that journey opened my eyes to the possibilities. I returned home, worked for a year, borrowed an old Ilford camera from my Grandfather and went off again. This time I went overland through Europe, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan and on to India and, finally, Nepal.

On my return from Nepal, I went back to education in order to qualify for a place to study Fine Art in Sheffield and graduated in 1981. I worked professionally as a freelance photographer for BBC Television whilst continuing my own photographic projects. Originally I was working with film and print in the darkroom, but as the quality of digital has improved, I now predominantly use it. Film and print are now reserved for those projects where it really is the best option.

I had the idea to work on a series of Flower Portraits well before the Lockdowns, but during the time when we were all cloistered indoors because of the Pandemic, they provided the perfect subject, and I found a real sense of purpose in creating them.