1. Who are you?
I'm a 28 year old IT security consultant living in the North East of England. I've been into photography for about 18 months now, and pretty much went straight into Urban Exploration when I started. I have been avidly taking pics of derelicts up and down the country ever since, even abroad when I get the chance.

2. What's your creative mantra/motto?
I try to make my pictures tell a story, as well as be recognisably mine. Over the past year and half I have developed quite a personal style, and people who view my pictures can often look at them and tell straight away that they are my work. I try to portray the feelings the buildings and settings convey while you are walking through them, as well as the impression I want to add to the scene myself.

3. Who or what inspires you?
There are a number of other urban explorers who's work I have admired and sites I have been envious of, but also more well known people such as Giger heavily influence the look and feel I go for in my images.

4. How did you get the idea for your featured project?
I had been exploring derelicts for about a year, but had not had a chance to explore much of Scotland despite having seen many great sites up there. When the opportunity to go and experience a few of those sites and get my own pictures of them arised, I couldn’t resist.

5. What's next?
I'm still travelling up and down the country looking at and photographing derelicts, but mostly I'm looking forward to a trip out to Pripyat in the Ukraine in the spring of next year, the town just outside of Chernobyl. The entire town is derelict and abandoned since the nuclear disaster at the power station in 1986, so it should present many wonderful photograph opportunities.

6. Apart from your Seagate FreeAgent hard drive, what's your favourite creative gadget!?
It has to be my camera, such a wonderful piece of equipment that I really couldn’t imagine not having now. It can be expensive to buy the equipment at first, but after that initial outlay you have thousands of hours of entertainment from taking pictures and trying to get that elusive 'perfect shot'.

7. What's the most precious thing you store on your Seagate FreeAgent hard drive?
My back catalogue of photographs, over 25,000 and counting. I have the pictures stored on my main computer, but use the Seagate's software to keep a simultaneous backup of them on the FreeAgent so that I can take the pictures with me wherever I go.

To find out more about my work click below

http://www.shepy.co.uk/myphotos/main.php?g2_itemId=5781

http://www.shepy.co.uk