Capturing the puzzle of life on film

11:15am Friday 5th September 2008

Pete Millson got his big break in photography just a year after getting his first camera at 21, photographing new bands for the NME music magazine. He just attributes it to a slow news day at the office.

"I've never had any formal training in photography," he says. "When I started out I just tried to emulate photographers I admired, like Anton Corbijn a Dutch photographer who used to do all the artwork for U2.

"I put together a portfolio and, amazingly, the NME agreed to see it and hired me. It must have been a quiet day at their office."

Since then, the 37-year-old's career has gone from strength to strength. He has published a book, Home Entertainment, compiled from portraits of celebrities including Ricky Gervais, Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Amy Winehouse and REM, taken doing freelance work.

This latest exhibition, however, focuses on black and white images capturing the everyday beauty of life, rather than famous figures.

He says: "I love using a Leica camera with black and white film. It's not that I have a problem with colour photography or digital cameras - I use them all the time at work.

"But it detracts from looking at the world in all its beauty and being inspired by it. I want to really observe the surroundings in front of me and not be distracted by an exciting gizmo."

Millson finds black and white photography also helps to combat distractions within a picture, saying: "It's almost beautifully simplistic and it means the viewer isn't focusing on a yellow dustbin in the background or anything."

His current influences include Fifties and Sixties documentary photographers, such as Elliot Erwitt, known for using black and white shots, and Henri Cartier Bresson, who helped develop the street photography style Millson uses.

"This exhibition is really about those still moments when people find some time for themselves, even if it's just at a bus stop," Millson says.

"Wherever you go people are just trying to solve the puzzle of being alive. I take my camera with me everywhere, just in case there is a chance to capture that."

The exhibition is at Hornsey Library Gallery, in Haringey Park, Crouch End, from September 16 to 27. Entry is Free. For more information call 020 8489 2754 or see www.petemillson.com