Alan Harris

"Max Kozloff said to me one day – “You’re not really a photographer. You do photography, but you do it for your own purposes. Your purposes are not the same as others.” I’m not quite sure what he meant, but I like that, I like the way he put it’

Saul Leiter in All about Saul Leiter, pp 194

Alan's Image Gallery

Born in the Welsh Coal Mining Community of Aberfan in 1962, moved across the valley in 1967 to Merthyr Vale where I spent my childhood. Although not involved directly in the Aberfan Disaster it was an event which has coloured the way I think, particularly in a photographic sense. Left school in Afon Taf Secondary Modern in 1981 to study Environmental Biology at Swansea University where, I also bought my first SLR camera - A Zenit TTL . Graduated from Swansea to start work at the Welsh Agricultural College at Aberystwyth where I was granted unlimited access to a darkroom. Moved to Carmarthen to work as a Systems Administrator / IT Technician at the local schools. Joined Carmarthen Photographic Society several years ago after a re-kindling of my interest in photography where I am now the Programme Secretary, Media / Publicity and (acting) Competition Secretary, having been Treasurer and Vice Chairman. My time at the club led me to undertake a Masters Course in Photography, which had to be part-time and online to fit in with my employment, I achieved the MA last September.

My main area of interest is in Documentary Photography, probably working in the sub-genre / area known as 'New Topographics' although I have a deep interest in how images work and why we react to them in the way in which we do.

Website: AH Photographic