Biography of Alexander Caminada

Alexander Caminada was born in Amsterdam in 1963 and later moved to Scotland, where he developed an interest in photography. After leaving school at 16, he managed a photographic studio for a community project and honed his skills in photography and traditional darkroom techniques. He also became involved in ceramics and stage lighting, music and dance. In the mid-80s, he moved to London and worked for a specialist photographic printer (winning the Ilford Young Printer of the Year award) before starting his full-time freelance career as a photographer in 1987. He quickly became interested in street photography and spent many hours walking through London's suburbs capturing life, images which later secured him commissions from Time Out and NME. During the 90s, he joined Select photographic agency and Rex Features, for whom he extensively covered such events as London Poll Tax Riots and Mandela's Release in Soweto. He started work for women's magazines (Woman's Own, Take a Break), shooting 'real life' stories, and financial publications (Investors Chronicle) for which he took portraits of numerous personalities, including Richard Branson, Alan Sugar and Norman Tebbit, and weekend supplement magazines (The Sunday Times, Observer Magazine). Portraiture became the mainstay of his work by the late 90s. In 1991, he moved to Stroud, Gloucestershire, where he started taking on more corporate commissions while working for charities (Dementia Carers Count, Developing Health & Independence) and not-for-profit organisations (RSPCA Assured). He completed several significant personal projects, including a story of car restoration in the Cotswolds, 'Engineers' and a gritty look at small-scale cheese production and animal husbandry, 'Field, Farm, Food'. In 2012 Alex developed his interests in music and video production. He's subsequently released several albums and has performed live under the moniker Phonsonic and the collective Konstruct. In 2021, he started his landscape projects on the River Severn and the portrait project 'Artists'. Alex's focus is increasingly on his work for charities, his editorial portraits and landscape projects. His concern for highlighting social justice and environmental issues constantly drives him to examine how his work can make a difference.