12/06/2026
Well, I never do posts like this, but I’ve just found out the artist who inspired me to become a photographer when I was a child has passed away. David Hockney, the Bradfordian worldwide legend.
When Salts Mill opened their diner back in the 90’s, it swift became a favourite haunt for my parents and I. Art gallery, books, art supplies, beautiful kitchen and homeware shop, antiques, and a fabulous diner, you’ve got a ruddy good day out there! My mum also collected the Alessi kitchenware so we frequently bobbed in for a peruse and a drink in the diner afterwards. We also had the pleasure of meeting David several times in the diner, and I do have his autograph somewhere in a poetry book mum had bought me from the book section. I remember his smiling face greeting me like it was yesterday.
Inside the massive industrial diner hanging on the walls, was a curated selection of David’s photographic joiners, they captivated me as a child, (the one that always stood out to me when I was little, ironically, was the one of his elderly mother at Bolton Abbey.) and now knowing I’m ADHD, I totally understand why David’s art and photography just ‘did it for me’.
His joiners tell a tale of movement and detail in what would normally be a single still motionless, maybe even mediocre shot, by taking upto hundreds of photos, of one subject or scene, and piecing together the developed photos like a huge jigsaw, giving it life and fluidity and shape. His work and his vision is incredible.
Growing up submersed in his work as a child, then going on to produce huge joiners of my own for my college photography exam, from there spending two years studying photography and digital imaging and design at Leeds Met University, to go on to form a lifelong career as a commercial, weddings and portraits photographer under the incredible guidance of my mentor and dear friend Morgan, shooting products for some of the biggest commercial companies in the world, then running my own studio, and running several commercial studios over the years after that, finally delving in to my landscape era that I’m in now, is all because of two photographers, David Hockney and Morgan O’Driscoll. Forever grateful to both, and to my parents for throwing me into the creative world.
RIP David Hockney, thank you for steering me into this crazy beautiful life of photography. Heartbroken. Atleast he’s with his mum (also called Laura) and his beloved dachshunds that he drew and painted so frequently, Stanley and Boodgie.
