Time for a Change
From Confetti to Contours
Sometime in March this year (2025), I got up from the sofa after watching an episode of Time Team, and a flurry of thoughts danced across my brain, which resulted in me thinking, “I’m going to become a landscape archaeologist!”. I suspect this isn’t the usual chain of thoughts someone in their mid-40’s, with a young family, and a 15-year old wedding photography business has. So, just in case someone out there has had a similar realisation, or is going through a similar, mid-life, “can I have a completely new career?”, I thought I’d write a series of blogs about my journey from wedding photographer to some kind of career in archaeology.
I’m old enough to know that enthusiasm and Time Team weren’t going to walk me straight into a new career, so photography is still very much a part of things. Which is why I created this website, all about the various culture & heritage organisations I’ve worked for over the years, that would also be a place to feature archaeological photography projects. This change of direction for my photography prompted me to apply (and be accepted!) for some Art’s Council funding, as a part of their Developing Your Creative Practice scheme. Broadly speaking, I’ll be looking at how photography and photogrammetry can be used to tell new and interesting stories about our historic landscape.
My love of archaeology didn’t all come out of the blue. As a kid, I was glued to the screen whenever Time Team was on, and when it came to choosing what and where to study after college, it was a choice between archaeology at Bournemouth University, or photography at Nottingham Trent. I was so focused on playing music back then, staying closer to band mates and rehearsal rooms in Derby was my priority, so off to Nottingham I went.
Throughout my late-teens and 20’s, I worked purely to pay for being in a band. Rehearsing 3 or 4 times a week, playing all over the country when we got the chance, and even releasing an EP. By the time my 30’s rolled around, the bands had all broken up and I had just started my photography business. When I wasn’t shooting weddings, I’d travel around the various heritage landscapes in Derbyshire, taking photos, and posting them on a blog. And every 3 or 4 years, I’d re-watch as many episodes of Time Team as I could get my hands on.
As Covid hit, I signed up for an online Field School run by DigVentures, and immersed myself in the course and the Facebook group. This was also the point where I discovered LiDAR, and all of a sudden I was lost in a world of old maps, LiDAR, and satellite imagery. Finding a previously undiscovered henge kicked things up a notch, and I started spending more time looking, reading, researching, and getting involved in communities online. (Spoiler alert! It wasn’t a henge, but it had served its purpose in nudging me further down the archaeology rabbit hole.)
So archaeology, history, and heritage have always been there; always been something I enjoyed. But when I stood up after watching that Time Team episode (wish I could remember which one, as it must’ve been a bloody good one!), this overwhelming feeling of love for archaeology and landscape bubbled up in me. Unpicking hidden stories visible in lumps, bumps, field boundaries, crop marks, and all those other clues that people before us have left behind. And I realised that I just wanted to do that.
I joined the local groups (Derbyshire Archaeological Society (DAS) and the CBA East Midlands). I started up a Bluesky account with the sole purpose of it being all about archaeology and heritage. I bought a whole load of books. I revamped my non-wedding Insta account so that my feed was filled with archaeology. I started looking for anything going on locally that I could get involved in. I signed up for a 5-day ‘Exploring Landscape Archaeology’ course run by the excellent, Mercian Archaeological Services CIC in Nottinghamshire. I also started looking at what university courses were out there and whether that was a viable path for me. (The jury’s still out on that one. A 6-year part-time BA would see me practically become archaeology by the time I graduated, and there’s no guarantee of a career at the end of it.)
Offering to help out the DAS with photos of their events, as well as helping to manage their Facebook page, helped me to meet other people passionate about our county’s archaeology and history. I’d love to help the society reach more people, and maybe, in time, I can bring back some of the fieldwork activities (fieldwalking, geophys, surveys, excavation, finds processing, etc) and help to bring in a new wave of people with a love of archaeology, local history, and want to get out into the landscape and help further the story of our county.
Alongside shooting weddings, I wondered whether anyone would find value in having professional photos of their digs. So for the last month or so, I’ve been volunteering to take photos of digs and archaeological courses, which has the lovely bonus of giving me some dig experience at the same time. (Huge thanks to Andy from Mercian AS CIC, Laura from York Archaeology, and Tom who was the freelance archaeologist running the dig at Roughbirchworth) It’s been great meeting other people with a passion for archaeology, as well as starting to learn about site formation, trowel technique, and getting to play with a dumpy level!
That brings us to the present, I reckon. I’m no closer to working out what exactly I want to do with archaeology, but i’m having a bloody good time trying to figure it out! I’ve met some lovely people, seen some great archaeology, and have taken my first small steps towards something new. Whatever it is, I can’t wait!