Paul Hitchcock is an adventurer, photographer and writer. He was born and bred in Sussex but for many years spread his wings elsewhere. He has now returned and lives on a hill overlooking the eastern end of the Downs.
He has long been a hobby photographer with occasional forays into “serious” photography such as when he was one of the lead photographers documenting Brighton Pride. This particular foray resulted in an exhibition and a book.
Today the content of most of his pictures is the birds and wildlife we see all around us.
Wildlife photography has evolved from what was simply an illustrative approach that was aimed at the academic textbook, to wildlife art where the realism is reduced but the picture is more pleasing to look at, and on to narrative imagery where the story is key.
However, this last approach has evolved again with the rise in social media and especially Tik-Tok, to an approach where short video clips have replaced the single image provided by still photography.
Paul is firmly in the camp of narrative photography with each of his pictures telling a story, even if that story is heavily anthropomorphic and rooted in the humour of a bygone world.
His style is influenced by Robert Capa and Johnny Morris. One might say an unlikely couple but considering Paul’s approach to storytelling the pairing makes sense.
Capa could be considered the ultimate exponent of the hand-held “in the moment” shot and his observation that if the picture isn’t good enough then the photographer is not close enough still holds true for anything capable of movement. For him, like his fellow co-founders of Magnum, the picture was the story.
Johnny Morris influenced every child growing up in England in the Sixties. His distinctive way of allowing the animals to narrate their world can be seen in the short animations from the Aardman Studio as well as Paul’s wildlife photography.
Paul’s pictures can be heard as well as seen.
