Is there much of a difference between this “chapter” and the previous one? Possibly not visually, but internally for me as a creative there is definitely a difference. Three things happen in this period. One, I have my first solo photography show. Two, the first season of Welcome to Wrexham is released two thirds of the way through these images. With these two things my understanding of things changes.

My solo show, titled Unseen Wrexham (which will be featured on this website soon), was 13 years of my documentary photography of the art world of Wrexham, put on in support of Wrexham’s bid to be City of Culture 2025. I’d been photographing the art world since 2008 and had amassed a large amount of photos documenting it which were fairly well known amongst people in that world. Unexpectedly I was asked if I’d like to put on a solo show of that work, which was flattering but terrifying. I said yes because this was the beginning of my attitude that I have to do the things that scare me creatively. It was the first time I’d ever shown work on that scale, and to so many people. I was terrified of the opening night, fearing nobody would show up, and those who did wouldn’t like it.

I was wrong. I got such unexpectedly positive feedback from a community I love so much, a community that saved my life. The show gave me confidence that perhaps my work has purpose, that it might be of value in some way, that it was worth continuing with what I was doing. It made me think perhaps I wasn’t just pissing in to the wind.

Towards the end of these the first season of Welcome to Wrexham came out, and I started to see the football community for the first time. I got an insight in to a world I was totally on the outside of, and saw that it was remarkably similar to the art world I had been documenting for so many years. It made me feel like perhaps I didn’t belong ONLY in the art world, but that maybe the world of football was somewhere I might also fit in with. The documentary being out also made it easier to talk about this work, and to talk about the club. It gave me a handy excuse I could use in order to avoid the annoying responses of “but you don’t like football” I got from people if I mentioned I was even slightly interested in it. Not long after here I would “come out” as a football fan, but this gave me the chance to start sharing with people the work I’d been doing for a few years already.

Now, even though I’m still not 100% sure what I’m doing, I feel like my work has value, and there’s a community and world out there that I feel drawn to and that I might be a part of it in some way. Little change visually, massive change internally. These are really my first steps towards committing to this as more than a throwaway project, but as a part of my life and who I am.