"I only picked up a camera for the first time properly at the beginning of 2002; then I started shooting full-time in May of that year. It"s been a wonderful, wonderful ride ever since!"

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"I had only been shooting for about a year when I started to look around for a photographic rep. A couple of agents looked at my books and asked to see some ‘personal work.’ I’d only been shooting for such a short amount of time, so everything I considered worthwhile was on the table in front of them. They explained that having a personal book was a very good way to show a client a bit more of the photographer. As I’m a ‘people’ person, I wanted to find something that involved people, no matter how different from the work I had been doing. One rep suggested doing art nudes; but art nudes are traditionally about the shape and form, not about the person. So I turned it around and rather than lots of shadow I shot the subjects high key white and rather than focus on various ‘impersonal’ elements of the human form I made it about the person. The name of the project tells it all: the sitters’ 'clothing' is literally 'immaterial' to their personalities.

"After I’d shot a few models (all chosen from OMP), some people said I should do an exhibition. I didn’t really take it seriously, but before I knew it, I had shot about 20 people and thought, ‘Maybe I should!' It’s for breast cancer because my mother is a two times survivor and I thought if anything does come out of this, I’d like a charity/cause to benefit."

“Well, having shot over 90 people so far, with a good 50 to go, I guess I do have a bit of experience with this! Most of the sitters had never posed nude before so it’s especially important to make them feel at ease. A few tips that spring to mind: No matter what project you are working on, professionalism is paramount. This is especially true when you’re shooting a project like this. A lot of trust is involved. For all sitters - have them bring someone (I encourage it) to the shoot. Talk to them, explain how the shoot is going to work, ask if they have any questions etc. I have no assistants on my CI shoot, just myself and the make-up artist. I’ve been lucky to have had great help and support from a number of wonderful make-up artists on CI -- they help not only with their skills to make the sitter look great, but also by additionally putting the sitter at ease.

"Ensure you have adequate privacy for changing and curtains/blackout/foamcore to hide peering eyes when you’re shooting, whatever your location. Have a heater handy -- temperature is an issue, even during the summer; it gets cold in a studio. If someone is cold, they won’t be comfortable and the shoot will reflect it, no matter how much of a trooper they are! And, most importantly, focus on the eyes – I think that is self-explanatory!"

"I rather naively thought once I’d done shooting the book would be published and that was that… not the case! It’s going to take over 7 months to have the book printed so it’ll hit bookstores in the late summer of 2006. However, “There will definitely be a full scale exhibition in New York in October 2005. “I’m just finalizing dates of the exhibition as this article is being published – it will show in a very prominent exhibition space for about 5 days in October which will be open to the public to visit. In conjunction with that I’m going to be working with various Breast Cancer charities to get the exhibition toured around the US - hopefully most of the major cities. Hasselblad, who is sponsoring the international celebrity exhibition, will also be holding a launch in Copenhagen in October this year. Their exhibition will also be shown additionally in Scandinavia, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Madrid."

"I will be shooting the cover celebrity plus a variety of Supermodels, Celebrities and Musicians for a special Clothing Immaterial feature editorial in Zink Magazine’s November issue. I’ve only just started working on this with the publisher and the art director, but it’s all confirmed and their support has been magnificent! I don’t know who I’ll get to sit for me in the final analysis, it changes from day to day -- it’s enormously difficult to convince and schedule so many celebrities/supermodels for such a project – but the phone calls and letters have gone out and I’m waiting on some pretty big names to sit for me. I’ve had meetings with Giselle’s booker and pretty much every famous supermodel’s agency to have them all sit for the project."

"I shot Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson and Latin actor/singer Jaime Camil last week; Supermodel Victoria Silvstedt and America’s Next Top Model’s Ann Markley are sitting for me this week and I’ll be shooting Melanie Brown (Scary Spice) in LA in August. I will also be shooting celebrities/musicians in Paris, Rome, London and LA in the coming weeks for Clothing Immaterial – it’s very, very exciting!"

"I travel around, telling everyone my digital story for Hasselblad. I try and let everyone know via OMP at least where I’ll be and try and fit in CI shoots when I’m there. In the US, I will be shooting for CI in Los Angeles for the week of the 22nd August and will try and schedule in some sittings then."

"Update! Update! Update! Having an up-to-date profile is really important. Do please put a little more on it than just a couple of pictures - it’s good to know a bit about you. I use the travel notification feature for ‘incoming models’ a lot - always good to know who is coming into town - so if you’re a model and you’re traveling, let us photographers know about it! On a serious note - whether you are a professional model or an aspiring one, please do turn up to a shoot if you schedule one with a photographer. It has only happened to me rarely, but when a model doesn’t turn up it wastes so many people’s time (and often wastes money, too)."

"When I very first started with OMP no-one would work with me - no models, no make-up artists, no-one. I actually joined way before I even picked up a camera, because I was curious to find out more about the community when a friend told me about the site. OMP has played an invaluable role in my career. Now I’m blessed to get to work with some of the world’s finest models and creative artists, but I still use OMP models for some shoots when I can. Clothing Immaterial would not have got off the ground if it had not been for OMP - so to all the photographers out there, take advantage of this great resource!"

"I think the best advice I can give is to keep going, whether you are a model or a photographer. There are always setbacks and rejections, but it’s not personal, it’s business. Ask questions all the time to learn more. Get feedback, listen and act on it. So many photographers (a good few of whom are on OMP) have helped me immensely with my lighting etc. And we’re all still experimenting, learning and hopefully sharing. If there’s a photographer’s (or model’s) work you admire, write them a quick note. Ask them a question – you might not always get an immediate response ( I'm guilty on that front) – but hopefully you’ll hear back, and you might very well be surprised.

"It’s a time to experiment, to expand your portfolio but most importantly it’s a chance to collaborate. Collaboration is the heart of this business. There are wonderful people ready and willing to create incredible images with you. You might not have met them quite yet, but they’re online!"