I am a writer and visual artist. Currently I am Professor (Chair) in Photography and Media in the Dept of Media and Communication, School of the Arts at the University of Liverpool. I co-direct the Centre for Culture and Everyday Life (CCEL).

I write on photography, museums, digital media and cultural history. I have written about Otto Neurath and Isotype, the Ilford Limited photographic company, and photography and media between the two World Wars. My recent research is concerned with atmosphere, colonialism and environment in relation to photography, and with questions relating to contemporary social and everyday photography practices. I am currently working on contemporary mobile phone photography, and concepts of negative space. My published books are Museums, Media and Cultural Theory (Open University Press, 2006), Museum Media (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015); Photography: The Unfettered Image (Routledge, 2018) and A Dirty History of Photography: Chemistry, Fog and Empire (University of Chicago Press,2025).

My visual work uses various media including ink drawing, cyanotype, digital and film photography and video. I also work for musical projects with artists including PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Mazgani, Dot Allison and John Parish.

I have a PhD by Publication from the University of Brighton, an MA in the Social History of Art from Leeds University and a BA (hons) in Fine Art / Art History from Goldsmiths, University of London (1986-89). I have taught photography theory and practice, cultural studies and media studies for over 30 years.