Past and Present Course Leaders include:
Siân Davey was born in Brighton in 1964. She studied Fine Art and Social Policy and worked as a humanist psychotherapist for 15 years. Her work is an investigation of the psychological landscapes of both herself and those around her with her family and community being central to her practice. Sian has recently undertaken an MA and MFA in photography and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the winner of the Arnold Newman Award for New Directions in Portraiture, Prix Virginia Woman’s Photography Award, 3 consecutive years of the National Gallery Taylor Wessing Portrait Award and more recently the Eugene Smith Fellowship. Her book ‘Looking for Alice’ was shortlisted for Paris – Aperture Best Book Award Shortlist 2016 and shortlisted for the Kraszna – Krausz FoundationBook Award. Her second book ‘Martha’ was also published with Trolley Books. Davey is represented by the Michael Hoppen Gallery London. Her photographs are included in private collections including The Science Museum, the French National Art Collection and the Martin Parr collection. She has photographed for the New York Times, the New Yorker and works on advertising campaigns. She is currently based in Devon, UK.
Abbie Trayler-Smith is a self-taught documentary and portrait photographer born in Wales and based in Devon, UK. Trayler Smith studied law at King’s College London before working for eight years as a photographer for the Daily Telegraph, covering world events such as the Iraq War, the conflict in Darfur and the 2004 Asian tsunami. She began working independently in 2007 and has since focused on work that portrays the essence of her subjects’ private everyday issues. At the heart of each image lies an intense, personal connection to each and every subject, which reveals the anguish, humility and extraordinary courage of those behind her lens.
Trayler-Smith works for a wide variety of clients including the Guardian, Huck, Monocle, Vice, Oxfam, Save the Children, UNICEF, Sony and BBC Worldwide. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally and her awards include second (2017) and fourth (2010) prize in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London and a World Press Photo Award 2009. Kiss It!, a book about Shannon from the Big O project, will be published in 2023 by GOST Books.
Tom Wigston has spent over 25 years working with head, heart and hand in the outdoor learning and environmental education sectors. He has a passionate interest in the natural world and our human experience within that. Tom shares his insight and knowledge in a creative and thoughtful way, enabling people of all ages to access deep connections with nature. First studying as an Environmental Educator in North America, Tom developed his skills as a facilitator and trainer through working for leading organisations back in the UK. Tom worked for several years in a senior role with the Devon Outdoor Service developing outdoor programmes, managing outdoor centres, and delivering training. He currently holds a senior role in the organisation WildWise, designing and delivering restorative nature based mentorship programmes. Tom is a qualified teacher, Forest School leader, Bushcraft Instructor and is an Accredited Practitioner of the Institute for Outdoor Learning. He has recently been awarded a master’s degree in education with distinction, also earning a distinction for his research into human-environment relationships and nature-based outdoor learning.
Cole Moreton is a writer, world radio. Cole is a former executive editor of The Independent on Sunday who now writes for a broadcaster and coach exploring who we are and what we believe in. He has written and presented many programmes and series for BBC Radio 4 including The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away, the story of a modern medical miracle, the final moments of which won Audio Moment of the Year at the Arias, the radio industry Oscars. The same series also won Best Writing at the New York Festival of range of national titles and was named Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards in 2016. He is the author of six books including Hungry for Home, which was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys prize alongside White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Cole’s next book will be Everything Is Extraordinary, a collection of true short stories about interviews and encounters with people including Scarlett Johansson, Tiger Woods, Desmond Tutu, the Queen, and a refugee called Zahra who came across the Channel on a small boat early one Christmas morning. Cole has taught creative writing, memoir and narrative non-fiction for the Arvon Foundation and Westminster University.
Ella Frears is a poet and artist based in London. Her debut collection, Shine, Darling, (Offord Road Books, 2020) was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. Her latest pamphlet I AM THE MOTHER CAT written as part of her residency at John Hansard Gallery is out with Rough Trade Books (2021). Her collaborative installation with artist Ben Sanderson, The Six Pillars of Modernism, was on show at Tate St.Ives 2017- 18, and Ella’s poems about the St Ives Modernists are currently on display at Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum & Garden. Ella is a tutor in poetry and creative writing at City Lit, was an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths University for the BA English with Creative Writing, and has taught for Falmouth University and University East London.