We want to capture the life inside the work — not just the finished piece, but the studio, materials, hands, mistakes, repetition, waiting, decisions and the relationship between you and the thing you’re making.

We want to understand your practice as it actually exists. That might mean photographing/videoing you working, walking around the studio, looking at things you’ve put aside, following a process from beginning to end, or staying long enough for something unexpected to emerge.

We don’t need your studio to look like an artist’s studio, and we don’t need you to perform being an artist for the camera. Your practice already has a life. We want to pay attention to it.

A finished object tells us what was made. The process tells us something about how it came to be — what you notice, what you return to, what you reject, what you keep, and what you’ve learned to do without thinking.

Sometimes we’ll make a suggestion. Sometimes we’ll move something into better light. Sometimes we’ll simply wait. The images should come from the practice, not be imposed upon it.

Tell us what you’re making, where you’re making it, and what you’d like the images to do for you and we’d love to capture it.

Documentary photography of your practice as it actually exists — the studio, materials, hands, repetition, accidents, decisions and finished work. We’re interested in what happens through making: the encounters with materials, tools and ideas that shape the work along the way. Not simply the objects you produce, but the life of the practice itself — the thinking, discovery and unexpected moments that happen through the act of making.

Both. But we’re particularly interested in the process — the things that happen while the work is being made. A finished piece shows what was made; the process reveals something about how it came to be: what you notice, return to, change, reject or discover along the way. We can photograph the finished work, but we’re just as interested in the studio, materials, tools, hands and decisions that give it its life.

Yes — every artist and maker session includes a full commercial use licence as standard, so you can use the photographs for your website, portfolio, social media, press, exhibitions, applications, marketing and other promotional purposes connected with your practice.

The copyright remains with us as the photographers. You may not sell, license or otherwise commercially exploit the photographs themselves as standalone images, pass them off as your own photography, or grant someone else rights to use them. We simply ask that Sophie Deller Photo is credited wherever reasonably possible.

Yes — artist and maker sessions are the one exception where we shoot photography and video together, in the same session. A studio or workshop is a much more controlled environment than a wedding or a family day, so we can cover both without it becoming chaotic. Let us know if you’d like both when you get in touch.

Yes. We don’t require a purpose-built studio or a perfectly finished workspace. What matters is that the space genuinely reflects your practice — the tools, materials, work in progress and things around you that make it yours. A home studio, spare room, shed or shared workshop can all work beautifully when there is enough of the practice around us to photograph.

Yes — we’re based in South West London and regularly photograph artists and makers across Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex and the wider South East. Tell us where you’re based and we’ll let you know if it works.