Biography of Gary Austin -Reportage & Documentary Photographer

Gary Austin was born in Nottinghamshire in 1964. After leaving School at 16 he joined the Royal Marines Commandos where he learnt photography. He worked in East Germany under Brixmis during the Cold War and travelled extensively as well as training in Mountain and Arctic, deserts and jungle warfare and further developed his interest in photography.

After leaving the forces he joined the sports agency EMPICS in Nottingham and covered news and sports for national newspapers and magazines as well as doing film and print processing in colour and black and white and left shortly before they were taken over by the Press Association. After EMPICS he set up as a freelance photographer.

Gary's work was mainly in the documentary, reportage, news and editorial fields and was drawn to the social movements and issues in the UK such as Hunt Saboteurs, Animal Rights as well as protests concerning The G8, Environmental Issues, Policing, Race, and the changing urban landscape of his home city of Derby

In 2005 he set up the photographers collective Radical Images working on ethical documentary photography, principally in the UK. The collective have set up remote editing and wiring to work in the field for extended durations.

After 21 years of doing editorial photography Gary decided to study Art Photography at University of Derby to get a greater understanding of what is behind the meaning of photographs and work in another direction.

Gary is currently working on several art projects including: The English Protest, Social Issues, Surveillance State and his distinctive Street Photography

Gary is a freelance artist at Derby's prestigious Quad Arts Centre working on digital arts, media (including photography) and participatory art applications.  He has an enhanced CRB and 5 million public liability cover, to teaching outside of the Quad. He also runs workshops as well as helping companies to have maximum impact using social media