Craig Easton
Documentary photographer
Based in the north of England, Easton shoots longterm documentary projects that explore issues around social policy, identity and a sense of place. Known for his intimate portraits and expansive landscapes, Easton’s work combines these elements with reportage approaches to storytelling.
A passionate believer in working collaboratively with others, Easton conceived and led the critically acclaimed Sixteen project with 16 leading photographers, exploring the hopes, ambitions and fears of 16-year-olds across the UK. Funded by the Arts Council, it was shown in over 20 exhibitions in 2019-20.
A regular visiting lecturer at universities, Easton runs workshops in the UK and internationally, and his prints are held in places like the FC Barcelona collection, the St Andrews University Special Collections, Hull Maritime Museum and the Salford University Art Collection.
Easton shoots for editorial and advertising clients worldwide, including the NHS, Visit Britain, Land Rover, Heathrow Airport, Wagamama, Mazda and John Lewis.
Craig Easton came to photography through an interest in politics and social issues. Studying physics in the politically charged mid-1980s, he joined his university’s darkroom and started photographing demonstrations that were taking place against a background of the Falklands War, the miners’ strike and the poll tax riots.
Starting out in newspapers, Easton joined the Independent at a very young age. The title had a fresh and considered approach to photography, and its photographers were given great freedom, treated as journalists in the same way that writers were. Although Easton rubbed shoulders with some of the great newspaper photographers of the time while he learned
