In Search of Brigadoon.

I went in search of Brigadoon last week. If you've no idea what I'm talking about this link might enlighten you. Where exactly I wandered I'm not revealing lest it spoil your own search for the mythic; going without expectation allows chance to prosper. It's something I heartily recommend you do if you get the chance. To be perfectly honest I went to places......

‘Inside The Fort’.

(I first posted this article here in 2011, and promised that I would update it at some point with more images and better scans. Well I managed it at last so I’m reposting it!......

The Fish That Never Swam.

My mother was one of 15 children, born into a Lanarkshire mining family near Glasgow. Her dad was a miner, and several of her brothers and nephews went into the pit to toil beside......

The comfort of photos.

  Words/Photos/(c)Andrew Jackson My parents never really understood photography. They never saw it as a......

NC500: The Long and Wounding Road.

The NC500 was 'launched' back in 2015, a tourism marketing strategy to 'sell' the concept of a 'Highland Route 66' taking visitors through some of the UK's most remote landscapes and arguably its most......

The Unexpected Knock on the Door.

I wrote a post last year about the all-important neurochemical responses that make a certain type of storytelling so persuasive and influential to audiences. One of the key neurochemicals involved in that......

Olivia Arthur – now can we talk about Magnum Photos and child abuse?.

Warning: This post contains distressing details of images centered on child sexual abuse, as well as sexual violence against women.  Images that are potentially indecent were reported to the relevant authorities in 2020.  Images......

Gnarly dogs and new tricks. What I’ve learned teaching Ad peeps the science of storytelling..

When Jonathan Pangu first suggested he wanted to market our Story For Influence course to advertising creatives and brand execs my initial response was Jo. Are you on crack again? Two reasons 1:......

War. HUH. What is it good for?.

Spoilers ahead about '1917', 'Full Metal Jacket', 'Platoon', 'Gallipoli' and 'Apocalypse Now'. https://youtu.be/YqNYrYUiMfg I've not been to war myself (too worried about getting shot) but close enough to know that for many there is an irresistible......

Better Story through Chemistry.

Clarity.  We love a bit of that because when you work in the story business there can be a lot of fluff and misdirection. There’s a very clear way to judge whether the story you’re......

An Open Letter to Olivia Arthur. President of Magnum Photos..

Dear Olivia, I'm writing to you following the statement that you made after the Magnum Photos archive was taken offline as a result of allegations that Magnum have been selling indecent images of......

The Sister With The Photos.

Editors note: Buku Sarkar is a woman from India, and a writer & photographer. This is the story of an ongoing project she has 'stumbled' into. Unlike many other illustrated stories from India presented......

Brexit, it’s the stories wot won it..

There's been a lot of water under Tower Bridge since 2016 but this was definitely one of my favourite surreal moments from that summer.  Bob Geldof and Nigel Farage took to the waters of......

Our skin in the slave trade. Uncle Sir John Moore and I..

I have some family skin in the should we take down historical statues debate.  It's quite a story. Last year I came across a version of my family tree on my cousin's Facebook page.  If......

The Rising Tide – Cambridge University Library.

It doesn't matter how big or small a project you work on the difference between it being a pleasure or a total pain in the ass is if the people you work for are......

Disruption and Tech.

As I cleared my mum's house when she was moved into care suffering from dementia I discovered a small brooch on top of a wardrobe concealed within a dusty cobwebbed envelope. It was easy......

Sad news.

Some incredibly sad news today. Dr Angelo Grubisic, who was at the centre of a film we made in Norway in 2016, died on Tuesday during......

Get In: Cambridge.

The phone rings. It's Tamsin Starr, Cambridge University Head of News. Do we want to pitch to make some films to try and get more British Black and British Asian young people applying to the......

Consternation, Conversation, Conservation.

*Contains images/video and descriptions of deer culling* *Click images to view larger* *Names have been changed for reasons of confidentiality at the subjects request*     Running......

Land Rover and the Red Cross. A missed opportunity..

Years ago we made a series of photofilms for Médecins Sans Frontières in Eastern Congo.  We told the story of an MSF midwife, Sam, working in a remote maternal healthcare clinic.  Every day she......