Trevor Sherwin, an outdoor photographer, draws inspiration from both the dynamic architecture of London and the serene woodlands of Surrey, focusing on simplifying complex structures in his work. He prefers to photograph urban and forest scenes devoid of human presence, aiming to capture the essence and narrative of each environment. Sherwin's journey in photography began in 2016, leading to a deep appreciation for the craft, which he practices for personal enjoyment rather than for competition or commercial success.

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Trevor Sherwin
In conversation with
From confident London cityscapes to subtle
reinterpretations of the English woodlands,
Trevor Sherwin’s work is all about
‘simplifying the structure’
Interview by Nick Smith

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Previous page South Downs by drone, East Sussex Above HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge, London Opposite The Gherkin, London
L
ondon was the first thing I seriously
pointed my lens at,’ says Trevor
Sherwin. His early career as a
computer engineer, going around
the city fixing IT problems, meant that
this complex environment became second
nature to him. ‘I’d find myself going in a
bit earlier, staying a bit later, wandering
with my camera. I started to appreciate
walking and exploring, reminiscing on visits
as a child. Captivated by the architecture,
the streets and the atmosphere.’
Perhaps there’s nowhere better to discuss
Trevor’s London photography than the
cavernous concourse of Victoria Station,
where we’re constantly interrupted by the
noise and bustle of metropolis. We meet
at a kind of geographical portal between
the two worlds he commutes between and
photographs. This is because for every
image of the architectural geometry of
the city where he works, there is an image
of the woodlands where he lives in leafy
Surrey. It’s tempting to think the two
subjects could not be more diametrically
opposed, but they share a component
key to Trevor’s work: ‘They represent
complex structures. One of the things I
am trying to do either in the city or the
forest is to make sense of the structure.’
There’s something special about the way
in which Trevor captures the spirit of the
city. While other photographers celebrate
London through cultural events or royal
pageantry, tourist landmarks or social
commentary, Trevor detects the soul of
the city as being in its buildings, which is
why he hardly ever includes people in his
pictures. It’s as if he’s seeing beyond the
surface detail and getting right into the
structure. He says that while London’s
architecture might seem static, ‘if you
observe it carefully, it changes a lot’.
He’s not necessarily referring to the
mushrooming of steel and glass monoliths
that tower over the brick and stone of
yesteryear, although ‘the inevitability of
the city of glass’ fascinates him too, it’s
more the changing conditions. ‘I’m always
wondering what a place I’m familiar with
would look like in the rain, or with a moody
sky. You could be standing somewhere one
day thinking, “Yeah, it’s OK, but it could be
better”. So, I move on to somewhere else.’
When he does this, he’s looking for the
quieter character of the place. ‘I know it’s
full of bustle – traffic and people – but what
I’m looking for is London itself to stand out.’
To find this, Trevor examines the subtle
distinction between the specific architecture
of individual buildings and, for him, the
far more attractive idea of the cityscape
and ‘how it all fits together. I know it’s
a famous city and people photograph
it all the time. But to get an image that
is visually pleasing and doesn’t look a
complete mess can take a lot of thought.’
This is a challenge made tougher by the
variety of styles of architecture. ‘I know
there’s a lot of love-hate about the new
buildings, but I embrace it all. There’s all
this inevitability to what London has been
through to make it what it is today,’ he
says. And when he notices a new building
going up, he’ll make a mental note to ‘come
back when it’s ready. But the city itself is
never finished. And that makes it a good
project for you to spend your life covering.’
Meanwhile, at the other end of the train
journey that Trevor takes from the city to
its surrounding countryside, there’s another
aspect of photography of equal weight in his
portfolio. There are seascapes and intimate
landscapes, aerials and waterfalls. But it is
his work in the woods that really attracts
the eye. In particular, there is a sumptuous
informal quartet of collections that trace the
annual cycle of the trees that brings to mind
that famous set of violin concerti by Vivaldi
now universally referred to as the Four
Seasons. The images are crisp and colourful,
dramatic and serene, full of narrative and a
deep understanding of the subject matter.

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‘When I talk about London being
sometimes hard to line up, simplify and make
pleasing, that’s the same with woodland.
And sometimes it just doesn’t work,’ he
says. ‘You’re sitting there trying to make
sense of a scene. Whether it’s the city or the
woods, it’s just the way I compose. Simplify
and declutter. Chaos bothers me and I like
to remove it from whatever I photograph.
The thing about woodland is that the
chaos is natural, and so you’ve got to make
sense of it, and I do that by looking for
quiet and calm. If I can do that, jackpot.
‘I photograph for my own satisfaction and
wellbeing, and because I get so much out of
it,’ adds Trevor, who describes himself not so
much as an amateur but ‘not professional’.
He’s not chasing the trappings of the well-
known photographer, preferring to balance his
creative persona quietly with a job in London
and his family in Surrey. He rarely enters
competitions – his one experience saw him
shortlisted and left him with a deep-seated
sense of ambivalence. He’s not particularly
interested in publicity, he says, but is content
to spend an hour discussing his photography
over an early evening cup of coffee. He’s more
pleased that his work was recommended to
me by Vanda Ralevska, whose landscapes
he admires and whose opinion he values.
‘Not chasing’ is an expression Trevor uses
several times in our conversation. He’s not
interested in monetising his photography:
‘I’ve got a career and I’m happy to just enjoy
my photography.’ In his early forties, he
is still a comparative newcomer to taking
pictures, recalling how he started to get
serious in 2016 after ‘picking it up here and
there, occasionally photographing in London’.
Up until that point, he cheerfully admits, he
didn’t know what he was doing or why he
was doing it, ‘but I knew I wanted to take
photographs’. So, what happened in 2016?
‘Maybe I got some filters or started with long
exposures or something. But I started to get
my head around it, and it just sort of clicked.’
Trevor has no recollection of photography
playing a role in his early life. ‘I don’t have
that story where my dad had a camera,
and I don’t have photographers in my family.
I just sort of grew up and went to work and
had a family.’ When pushed, he remembers
going to a car race meeting with a friend who
had a camera ‘and I was a bit in awe when
he got some panning shots, and I thought
I wanted to buy a camera like that. So I
did, and I had a dabble. Nothing serious.’
Trevor tells me how he graduated
through a series of cameras of increasing
Left (top) Beachy Head lighthouse, East Sussex
Left (below) Beachy Head by drone, East Sussex
Opposite (top) Nutley, East Sussex
Opposite (below) The Rumps by drone, Cornwall

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sophistication while explaining that he
doesn’t think success in photography has
‘anything much to do with the gear’.
But he took a ‘decent’ camera up to London
on an early trip where ‘weirdly, I fell in love
with the tactile, tangible aspect of it. In fact,
one of the photos I took that evening is one
of the best photos I’ve ever taken.’ Why’s that?
‘I don’t know. It was a classic photo from the
arch under Westminster Bridge. It’s not the
best photo I’ve ever taken, but it represents
that this is something I enjoy doing.’
He’s also amused by how much he didn’t
know about photography in those days.
‘I was doing HDR and over-manipulating
and I was, like, “This is the best stuff
ever”. When you start, you just don’t know
how much you don’t know,’ he says.
Looking back, he is honest enough to say
‘my early work was mostly ghastly stuff, but
it was new. I was creating something, and
my enthusiasm for the process of making an
image that didn’t look just like a documentary
photo took over. I think I was blinded by that.’
The ‘ghastly stuff’ soon disappeared in
the rear-view mirror following a process of
learning how to ‘control the camera rather
than letting it control you’. This is vital to
Trevor’s progress as a photographer because
success comes from ‘having an input into
what you want the photo to be, both from a
technical point of view and creative vision.’
But you also have to ‘plug away and
practise, and you’ve got to keep going back
to places and learn about what works and
what doesn’t work. The technology gets
better and the software catches up with
what you want to achieve. But mostly, you
have to think about what you’re doing.’
Talking with Trevor, you get the sense that
he thinks a lot about his photography.
Consideration of what the image will look
like is a thread that runs through the fabric
of his work. Whether the viewer is looking
at his urban or pastoral compositions, his
intimate landscapes, aerial photography or
his handful of stunning shots of Beachy Head
Lighthouse, they are all unmistakably the
work of the same photographer. He attributes
this cohesion across the whole portfolio to his
tendency to react to his own instincts while
sticking firmly to the established thought
processes. He’s particularly pleased that
people might think his work is stylistically
consistent. ‘That’s quite an accolade, isn’t it?’
To see more of Trevor’s work,
visit trevorsherwin.co.uk
Opposite (top) Fairy Glen, Eryri, Wales
Opposite (below) Forest Row, East Sussex
Right (top) Forest Row, East Sussex
Right (middle) Rock pool, Sussex
Right (below) Limpet on a yellow rock, Sussex