"Girl in fighter pilot helmet " Photograph

Paul first picked up a camera when he was at drama school in Edinburgh back in the 1980s, and that sense of drama infuses all his work. A fan of noir cinematography, he soon developed a photographic style that emphasised contrast across a range of genres.


His work as a reportage photographer gave him the ability to capture a story in a split-second of film, and there’s a feeling of movement and character in his work outside journalism too. He can catch the essence of his subject in a glimpse on the street just as powerfully as he can in the formal environment of the studio. Whether he’s capturing reality or constructing it, he has a brilliant ability to reveal the truth.


Nowhere is this more obvious than in his work on the fetish scene. With unprecedented access to London’s fetish underworld, Paul has been able to reveal the secrets of an afterparty culture where inhibitions are not left at the door but brought inside, explored, overturned and laid bare with total honesty.


The result is a stunning combination of talent and intimacy. Paul is an intelligent observer but also, as an invited voyeur, he becomes a participant. Behind the camera, he is present in every shot.