‘I was told I would never amount to anything at school but now I capture Yorkshire’s top events and have designed my own path’ – meet the man behind the lens
From some of Yorkshire’s most exclusive weddings to events and designing signs for the top venues, this man from York was told to give up on his dream but instead, he designed his own career path, all by using a camera and some editing software.
35-year-old Robert Harrison has always been quiet and slight in stature but he’s used that to his advantage by standing on the sidelines reading the room and then capturing it.
“I haven’t always been as confident as I am now but as soon as school saw me as a failure I vowed to prove them wrong.
Robert’s real power he has been developing over many years is illustrating the feel of an event, wedding, place or brand.
“I was written off from a young age whilst studying for my GCSEs. I was told to go into a trade as I’d never make it as a graphic designer. Not one to give up, I went to work for a local printer and gained experience in printing before going back to education.”
Robert worked his way up through the courses until he made it to a Graphic Design Degree.
“In 2012 I graduated with a 2.1 BA Hons in Graphic Design from York St John’s University.
“Whilst sitting in York Minster at my graduation ceremony I thought to myself ‘what’s next, now what?’”
A week later Rob had landed his first job at a graphic design agency in York.
He said: “Since then I have been lucky enough to work on large projects across the globe for different creative agencies. Throughout these fantastic years I have built my creative skillset and expanded them into the world of photography.
“Whilst working for design agencies I found that they began to drop their chosen photographers and used my skill set as an in house substitute. This gave me a platform to grow further and I began to get recommendations for other business from colleagues, family and friends.”
