Anthony Foster

I've wanted to be a teacher since I was a child, passing on my knowledge of photography and all of my experiences as I've worked to become and qualify as a teacher. I went on to study child care after graduating from high school. I studied and received the Childcare CACHE qualification, which I believed would be the quickest and easiest approach, but things took a turn for the worse, and I moved on to study Art and Design a year later. This is where I discovered I had a strong interest in photography. As a result, I've decided to continue my education by studying photography for the rest of my student life.

For the past seven years, I've been studying photography. I began studying photography while I was enrolled at Southport College's Art and Design level 2 programme, where photography was simply one of the few units offered. I subsequently went on to complete a photography level 3 course and an HND in photography. I completed my studies at the University of Sunderland in the summer of 2022, with a BA in Photography. My current goal is to further my education by pursuing a master's degree in photography.

Throughout my time as a student, I was able to have my work presented at both the University of Sunderland and Southport College . During my stay at Southport College, I learned a lot more about Further. I was fortunate to work in the fast fashion business at Zed Studio, where I gained crucial photography experience. This was a two-day internship. Another event in which I participated and contributed was the Southport Flower Show. I covered photography during the Southport College open day. Being a part of it was a lot of joy for me. As a result, I was able to boost my photography skills even further.

We were in lockdown during the summer back in 2020. I was able to publish my own book, which is a photo book. I chose the title Nationhood for the book. Following in the footsteps of legendary British documentary photographers Martin Parr and Tom Woods is the emphasis of the book. My goal was to try to imitate their style and let my work be influenced by theirs. The images I've chosen here were shot in the style of Martin Parr and Tom Woods. This is a modern interpretation of the idea of modern British culture. The photographs that are included in this book are from a wider collection of work that was produced for a College project. It is a body of work that has been influenced by different photographers that I have looked at throughout working on my courses, such as Martin Parr and Tom Woods when they did a project around the seaside town, of New Brighton.

Following in the footsteps of great British documentary photographers I have tried to emulate their style and let their work influence mine. For example, Martin Parr and TomWood both shoot very close-up shots that are very detailed and make you feel like you are there at the moment the photograph was taken. They have shown the British culture of the seaside and I have also put this into practice in my photographs by getting up close to my subjects by doing a contemporary take on their concepts.