About David Osborn

Graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) degree in Graphic Design, Camberwell School of Art in London at age 22. Then for the next two years, I worked for public relations companies before being taken on with the Reuters News Agency in London at age 24. A year later, I was promoted to running the Reuters picture desk in London on my own. This was followed by a year in Asia shooting color photo stories to gain experience in a conflict environment – which included living with the locals in the jungles of Mindanao, Philippines, for six months, covering both sides of an insurgency: The Muslim fight for the independence of Mindanao. I then returned to London and continued with Reuters.

In 1989, aged 28, I emigrated to Sydney, Australia, initially working for Reuters, then as a staff photographer with The Australian newspaper before setting up a commercial studio shooting annual reports for graphic designers, mainly in the telecoms industry. I wanted experience producing beautiful, high-end, technical-quality Photography with studio lighting on location and large format film cameras. – I shot commercial work and annual reports for nine years before returning back to London in 2000, aged 39. On my return to London, I spent a year photographing ports and airports all around the world, many in the USA and the Middle East, as photo stories documenting the facilities and daily life.

This work led me to commissions from BAA, which owned Heathrow Airport in London. In 2002, at age 41, I was given the responsibility of being chief photographer to document the £4 billion Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5 construction project from a muddy field to its inauguration by the Queen in 2008. At the time, it was Europe’s largest construction project. I had sole responsibility for the main Terminal 5 building, all airfield and taxi-way construction, and the tunnel construction for the Heathrow Express and underground trains.  – 6 years of project management and Photography. I handed in over 30,000 annual report quality images. After Terminal 5 was completed, I worked for other construction companies shooting their projects, including One Hyde Park in London, the world’s most expensive apartments near Harrods in London. – On my return to the UK, I also began Landscape Photography for my own enjoyment.

In 2014 I was invited to co-run a Photography workshop; this was my first connection with any teaching or enthusiast Photography. I was appalled at the lack of teaching, and I felt ashamed to be part of it. However, things happen for a reason. – Commercial work was no longer a worthwhile career; I was looking for a change. The experience motivated me to look into workshops, where I found little beneficial knowledge being taught. I had the knowledge and so could provide better. – I offered a workshop at age 53, and was teaching in Turkey soon after. I never looked back; teaching workshops full-time for eight years so far. Then, in 2019, I was curious to find out if there were underlying principles to what I knew instinctively, what people may label as ‘natural ability.’ – I began my own research into the psychology of human nature and perception. Its relationship to pictures. – My workshops are the culmination of all my knowledge.