I’d first started taking nightlife photos at one or two of my brother’s club and warehouse party events in London in 1983.
I was studying English Literature in Sheffield, but my brother Steve had been one of the early ‘one-nighter’ club promoters hosting clubs like The Lift and Jungle, which were polysexual before that word was invented. Most of those early photos were rubbish, as it took time for me to learn how to use flash and take photos after dark.
I moved to London in 1984, but through my brother (again) I got a job working behind the bar at Fouberts in Soho and later at The Embassy in Old Bond Street.
Eventually I got fired after being caught taking photos when I was supposed to be collecting glasses, but by then I’d approached i-D magazine and started doing photos for them, so I was back at The Embassy a couple of weeks later to take pictures.