Looking back, I was surprised to find that it is more than three years since I last published a book of street photography. I’ve not given up on the genre, I have just spent time exploring other projects, many of which include street photography.

On reviewing the images I had available for this book, I identified a common theme where the background and surroundings are as important a part of the final image as the people included in the scene. It is true that on many occasions I find a potential backdrop, frame the scene in my viewfinder and wait for something to happen. However, on others, the balance between the figures and their surroundings is little more than serendipity.

The images in this collection were made between August 2012 and November 2017. Whilst many were made in the cities of Manchester and Leeds, others were made in York, Blackpool, Huddersfield and London with a small selection made further afield in Mantua, Tallinn, Stockholm, St Petersburg, Helsinki and Melbourne.