CASE STUDY Nick Jay
Prior to setting up in the South West in 1999, event photographer and IT specialist Jay had spent 30 years living on the Isle of Wight, where he modestly recalls his present photographic career beginning with a chance encounter.
"In 1994, after not doing any photography for a long time, I decided to buy a camera off a friend of mine, but wanted to run a roll of film through it before I did," he recalls.
"It was Cowes Week, so I went down to East Cowes beach when Princess Anne rolled up with Eddie and Sophie. I was the only person ever to get a picture of Princess Anne windsurfing, and that was syndicated worldwide via Big Pictures - it went in The Express and I made £1000."
Subsequently building up a relationship with the Solent News agency, Jay was published in the likes of
OK! magazine and The Times. When he moved to the mainland, he started to look for something else to photograph. "The nearest thing to me was horses and ponies, so that's how it developed," he explains. "The event photography pays for my kit and more, and I'm building that up all the time."
Jay prefers to keep his event business at a family level - his wife helps out too, taking orders for prints, while both his children are also photographers. "I'm not really interested in building teams to go out and take photographs because I want control over the event - that's critical. I've heard too many horror stories of people building teams and then photographers either not showing up on the day, or not doing things how you want them done."
