Photographer David Gilliver is an Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of these images. From ‘The Little People’ project. To see David’s body of work, click on any photograph.

I graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 2001 with a BA Hons Degree in Fine Art Photography and I have been working hard to establish myself as a respected professional photographer and artist ever since. I specialise in long-exposure photography (the art of ‘Light Painting’) as well as macro photography (my ‘Little People’ series).

During my degree I focused almost entirely on macro photography. In 1998 one of my professors suggested I take a look at the artworks of an American Artist, David Levinthal, and from this point onwards I was hooked and spent the next 2-3 years of my degree photographing toys and figurines. Towards the end of my degree, my professor told me I was one of the most prolific students the Art School had ever seen – a trend that I try to keep up by creating hundreds of new artworks every year.

When I graduated in the summer of 2001 I was involved in a couple of small exhibitions in Glasgow. I sold a couple of pieces, but it soon dawned on me that I now needed to make a living and so I ended up moving to the Channel Island of Guernsey where I got swept up into the world of offshore finance! Quite the departure from the world of fine art. But in order to maintain a level of sanity, I continued to make a lot of new artwork in the evenings seeing as my days were now being spent in an office (a lifestyle that my brain would never fully comfortable with).

It was during my time on Guernsey that I became utterly obsessed with long exposure photography and the art of light painting. For several years I became virtually nocturnal, often heading out to capture my work during the hours between 10pm-2am. I ended up creating a vast portfolio of light painting photography captured between 2008-2014, and I have amassed one of the largest collections of Light Painting tools in the world. When our daughter Lea was born in October 2014, sleep became more of a priority (not that we got much of it in the early years!) and I stopped venturing out late at night, instead I turned my full attention to my macro photography whenever I had the time.

In late 2015 I moved back to Scotland with my family. By this time I was married to my wife, Melissa, and we returned to Scotland with our daughter Lea who was just turning 1. This was when I realised I had arrived at a professional crossroads, and in 2018 (after a brief return to office life) I finally took the plunge and became a full-time Artist. Not a week goes by without some kind of emotional rollercoaster taking place, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Being a full-time Artist just feels so natural to me.

My work has since received some very welcome attention which has led to me becoming involved in some very exciting projects all over the world. Highlights from the past few years include having some of my photography stocked by John Lewis, running Creative Photography Workshops across the UK, and working on bespoke commissions for companies like ThreeUK, Sony, Adobe, Samsung, Lexus, Honda, the Noor Riyadh Festival of Light and AIDA Cruises to name a few. For every job/commission that I receive, I feel an immense sense of gratitude.

As well as regularly exhibiting my work I love running my Creative Photography Workshops for amateur and professional photographers, and in late 2018 I started travelling the country teaching my Workshops in schools across the UK. I now also regularly present to Colleges, Universities and Camera Clubs online via Zoom.

Out of everything that I do, my main passions are creating bespoke artworks for my clients, and teaching others about the magical techniques I have fallen in love with: Light Painting and Macro Photography. It’s funny, I never set out to teach but it has become such an instrumental part of my art practice over the years. I also love interacting with the public and fellow Artists at any exhibitions I am lucky enough to be involved in.

All images and text © David Gilliver