Fran May Photography

I was born one of eight children in Vancouver and in 1962 the family moved to the UK. Starting as a Fine Art Painting student at Sheffield, I completed my education at the Royal College of Art with a master’s degree in photography in 1978. 

While in Sheffield I started to use a camera and documented  about twenty different destinations, Manchester, Sunderland, Leeds, Scarborough, Blackpool, many small towns and Sheffield of course, which was on my doorstep. Once in London, I was encouraged by Bill Brandt, who became my personal tutor when I was a student at the Royal College of Art. I continued my documentary work of Brick Lane and a series of hostels for the homeless. 

My first commissioned appointment came from The Brooklyn Museum, documenting the Valley of the Kings in Egypt as the museum’s Royal Theban Tomb Photographer.

On my return, I took a studio space in Hoxton Square to build a freelance photography business and worked for the British Museum and The Sunday Times Magazine as well as on documentary projects in Africa. 

Later work included the creation of corporate images for investment banks, law firms, publishers and scientific research companies. For over thirty years I worked freelance for the Development Offices of the University of Cambridge providing images of the people working in scientific and technological innovation for alumni publications.

I currently live in Bath and I am creating a project about the origin of Architecture, the Cosmos and Photography.