ABOUT
I’m Paul Rendell, a film photographer based in Derbyshire.
My work centres on landscapes, places and the everyday scenes that are easily passed by. I’m drawn to changing light, weather, texture and the small details that give somewhere its identity. Much of my photography is made close to home, documenting familiar landscapes and the quiet moments of everyday life around Derbyshire.
Photography has been part of my life for longer than I perhaps realised. My grandfather, Douglas Rendell, was a photographer, author and local historian. Before the Second World War, he studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic and later filmmaking in London, before his studies were interrupted by the war.
As a child, I spent time helping in his photography shop in Hale, surrounded by cameras, photographs and prints. Throughout his life, Douglas documented the people and places around him. His work has become an important influence on the way I approach photography today, and my use of the Rendell name is a tribute to him and to that connection with photography.
My grandfather, Douglas Rendell, with a cine camera in 1939.
I work predominantly with traditional film cameras, including a 1938 Rolleiflex Automat. I enjoy the slower, more deliberate process of working with film: choosing the film, considering the light and composition, and knowing that every frame matters.
Rather than searching for the spectacular, I’m interested in finding something worth recording in the ordinary—familiar places, changing landscapes and moments that might otherwise go unnoticed.
For me, the process doesn’t end with the negative. Selected photographs are produced as fine-art prints, with the choice of paper, scale and presentation forming part of the finished work.