Circus is a series of images setting out to show the beauty, strength and symmetry in the performances of young contemporary circus performers in the United Kingdom.
Tim Booth (1963) began taking photographs with his father’s camera at the age of eight. By he time he was a teenager he’d bought his first SLR, thrown on a backpack and headed off around Europe. Infected by both travel and photography he spent several years shooting freelance features for most of the UK’s weekend magazines and newspapers in Africa, Pakistan and South East Asia.
Once settled back in the UK he shot commercial, corporate and design work from his London studio whilst also pursuing personal projects. His commercial work for advertising and design agencies spans three decades.
Ever bitten by the travel bug, his first exhibition ‘Into the Light’ was shot whilst on assignments in Africa. However it is his seminal ‘A Show of Hands’ project and award winning book which brought him international recognition. Spanning over twenty years, the collection features the hand portraits of hundreds of people whose hands are intrinsic to their contribution to the world. Some of the portraits are of well-known celebrities, musicians and performers, others are from everyday backgrounds, but all with hands that embody an evocative insight into their lives and professions.
Tim Booth’s instantly recognisable shooting style echoes across both his portraiture and more recent landscape work, deceptively simple and shunning unnecessary elaboration, his photographs are often both profound and affecting. In early 2018 his work won him the accolade of being voted the No.1 Black & White photographer working in the UK today by OneEyeLand. His most recent work in progress is a collection of photographs of circus performers, focusing on movement, bodies and the incredible physical talents of his subjects, the collection is still growing, collecting new disciplines and ideas all the time and is due for completion early next year.
Tim is now based deep in the Dorset countryside in South West England, working from his purpose built studio and still finding inspiration in the world around him. [Official Website]
