There aren’t many politics students who leave university and walk into their own photography business by accident, but Jonathan Tyrell is a prime example of how a hobby can be turned into a money making job. The 26 year old graduated from University of Sheffield in 2007 with a Politics degree, but soon realised he was chasing the wrong dream.
He says: “I’m a big believer in going for your dream and this encouraged me to step out, so if you have something you love doing just go for it. My main belief in life is that God made everyone an individual and that there is stuff we all like doing in our heart and things that people are passionate about.
Sometimes you can get pushed in the wrong direction with what you think you should do, rather than what you want to do.”
Jonathan has been all over the world with his trusty SLR cameras and his portfolio shows work from many different cities, including Paris, Rome, Berlin, Prague, Strasbourg, San Francisco and Sheffield.
But now he is selling his work and has just started up his own full time business. His main project this year is selling Christmas gifts that range from £5-£25, which he says is for the student market. He even delivers the picture gifts directly to people in Sheffield but can send some through the post without the glass.
People with a bit more cash can buy his more expensive work and one of his pieces was sold for £185.
“Cities is my main subject area. I started taking pictures for A-level and GCSE art and did artistic environments that people see and are familiar with, but can look different.
I literally walk round the streets and think ‘that looks good’ and will take a photo. The things that I think look good are reflections, light, vibrant colours and silhouettes.”
Taking photographs of reflections isn’t always a good idea if someone is behind the window though and Jonathan has a few anecdotes to tell.
“I’ve had taxi drivers shout at me before asking me why I’m taking a picture of them when I’m just taking a picture of the reflection. Sometimes I feel like an idiot as well when I’m stood there taking a picture of a window”
His main passions and inspirations are making the familiar look unfamiliar, using colour and light and noticing hidden things that most passers-by wouldn’t, like reflections.
Proving that we all have a natural talent for something Jonathan explains how some of his best work was actually taken by accident.
“There’s one picture that a lot of people seem to like. I was in St Peters church in Rome and was focussing on the light coming through the window. When I looked back through the film I captured two people who I think were crossing each other and it looked like a couple were kissing or something in the middle of the light.”
Jonathan started taking photos as a side project but realised he wanted to do it full time when he took a gap year after University and travelled to various cities with his camera. Most of his photos were took when he went on an inter rail trip for his gap year.
He explains: “If there are certain pictures that I want I will make certain trips. I wanted to go to Rome because I knew there would be good stuff. Next I want to go to Bristol, as that’s where I grew up, and I’d like to give Sheffield more justice and take more pictures there.
Australia would be cool as well and I’d like to go back to Barcelona. I went when I was younger and it was the most amazing trip and I don’t have any photographs of the place.”
Once he started to build up his portfolio he began doing exhibitions in Bristol and Sheffield to show off his work. The first exhibition was at an arts centre in Bristol during his A-levels and he sold his first ever picture in a bar in Bristol when he was just 18 years old.
It is still a learning curve for the former politics student though and he explains that he learns new things after every exhibition such as how to set up his work in the most appealing way.
The photographer has lots of plans for the future including meeting up with different department stores such as John Lewis and Ikea where he hopes to be able to get a contract to sell his work. It looks like we may be seeing a lot more of Jonathan Tyrell’s work around the country.
He says: “There’s potential to bring social justice and campaigning areas into my work. I’d like to do big eye catching pieces of artwork with social justice issues in them but that may be a few years away. Also I wouldn’t be opposed to going down the ‘photos that changed the world’ route.”
He has also been involved in urban generator projects and has taken photographs of urban environment areas that people can recognise and makes them look different.
Over Christmas Jonathan will be taking his work to schools and he will also visit the student village of University of Sheffield so students can get his work too, as well as other schools and universities around the country.
You can find his work on his Facebook group: J Tyrell Photography Christmas Gifts 09 and on his website: www.jt-photography.co.uk
