“I’ve been taking pictures in my head for years! It just took me a while to pick up a camera”

Alex Winn grew up in London and became obsessed with music during the early days of hip hop. This together with a steady diet of soul, funk and electro lead to him DJ-ing all over the country, doing shows on pirate radio and later placing his creative energy into music production. Photography didn’t feature much until a random road trip to the States in 1999. There he became hooked and with an early digital camera, took nearly 2500 pictures in the space of 2 weeks. Once back in the UK, he quickly realised that digital technology was still in its infancy and swiftly bought a film SLR which went everywhere with him. His love of music as a whole and particularly of hip hop, took him to skate parks, graffiti ridden warehouses and city streets in search of inspiration.

The next 6 months became an intense period of learning and experimentation as Alex took photography more seriously, which culminated in having his first exhibition at Terence Conran’s GE Club in Liverpool Street. Despite being self taught over a relatively short period of time, the exhibition was very successful with many of the photographs being sold on the night to private collectors.

The exhibition coincided with Alex moving to Sweden where he continued with his photography alongside pursuing his more musical aspirations as a producer. After 5 years away, the pull of London became too much and he moved back to the UK in search of the grit and the grime which had initially inspired him.

He now lives in Shoreditch and works full time as a freelance photographer specialising in fashion, music and various aspects of commercial photography.

photo © baby pap 2007