I’ve been making things for as long as I can remember.
Not always well. Not always finished. But always making.
Before I had a camera I had my parent’s old camcorder, and before I had any real idea what I was doing, I was editing dodgy stunt videos with my mates in Windows Movie Maker, very much in the spirit of Jackass, very much not in the spirit of health and safety. It was chaotic and stupid and I loved every second of it.
That’s kind of where it all started, if I’m honest.
Photography came naturally out of that same itch — the need to capture something, to frame a moment, to take the world as I see it, and to show it to someone else. I’ve always been drawn to creativity in all its forms: photography, video, music, and even a little bit of programming here and there. I’m one of those people who can’t really sit still unless I’m making something.
These days, my camera and my passport go everywhere together.
Travel and photography have this weird symbiotic relationship for me. I travel so I can take photos. I take photos because I want to travel. I’m not sure which came first and I honestly don’t think it matters. What matters is that I end up in places I’ve never been, seeing things I’ve never seen, with a camera in my hand and no particular plan.
I’m drawn to streets and people and landscapes. The quiet corner of a city at 6am. The kind of light that only happens for about four minutes. The face of a stranger in a place you’ll never go back to. That sort of stuff.
I’m based in Birmingham, I shoot under @byjacklloyd, and I’m very much still figuring this out but in the best possible way. Going from “person who loves photography” to “person who does photography” feels like a big deal and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
If you’re a fellow photographer, a travel brand, a tourism board, or just someone who loves this stuff as much as I do, I’d genuinely love to connect. Pull up a chair. Have a look around.
This is just the beginning.
— Jack