Valda Bailey is a freelance photographer living in Sussex who first became passionate about photography as a young teenager.

Her approach to photography is greatly informed by her background in painting. and her influences come as much from artists as photographers. She is motivated by colour and form and the tension and dynamism that these components can bring to an image.

The impact of the many years she spent painting is obvious in the way she approaches her photography. She is drawn towards imaginative abstraction and the challenges that present themselves when moving beyond the act of merely replicating what is in front of the lens.

Her methods include the use of multiple exposures and camera movement in order to simplify the detail in a scene. It is a way of working which is controllable to a certain degree but still has a significant element of unpredictability about it. Much like watercolour painting.

She spends a great deal of time teaching people how to extend creative thinking and find their voice in a world that is already submerged beneath the weight of an incalculable number of photographic images.