PHOTOGRAPHER TO WOODWORKER

WHERE I’VE BEEN

For over a decade I was a music photographer documenting the London music scene in the ’00s and then touring the world with bands like Frank Turner, the Dropkick Murphys, and Bastille. In that time, I had the incredible opportunity to experience some of the best of live music while documenting the rise of new bands, meeting some of the most inspirational people, and the incredible teams that make live music possible.

Music photography led to other areas of photography as well, including landscapes, portraits, and telling stories for non-profits.

The pandemic brought live music and most travel to a grinding halt. I, like many others, needed to shift focus to find creative outlets as well as work. I was lucky - I had recently made my home in Salem, OR where we have an old house and a lot of garden space. I started working on small house improvement projects, then became increasingly interested in going beyond repairs and learning a new craft. From a few early pieces, I quickly began to search out wood to recycle and use to create new projects. Hours of YouTube tutorials and quite a few false starts later, I have developed a woodworking style that I believe builds on my creative past while creating something new.

HOW I GOT HERE

My whole career as a photographer has been a series of unexpected opportunities and adventures. Disappointment and heartbreak would always be followed by periods of euphoria and carefree abandon, but now, with time between me and then I can say that is just the way life goes. There is no straight line for anyone.

I lucked into my first gig as a music photographer in London in 2004 just as London was rapidly becoming the center of the 'indie music scene'. I was out every night with my camera haunting the venues to capture it and it filled my creative spirit to the brim.

I met some of the most creative and beautiful people during those years and I still have the pleasure to call some of my close friends. Some of these folk went on to do great things, and some brought me along for the ride. For all the uncertainty and hangovers that lifestyle brought, my constant was getting to work with incredibly creative and talented people, and always working to improve to get my photos closer to a vision I had in my head. 

In some ways, the woodwork has been the same - I ended up with some semi-decent tools and then a series of ideas that led to new projects when I was wondering what I was going to do with my life. The real passion showed up when I sanded ugly paint off a board we had removed from our old decrepit back deck. Suddenly I was looking at something beautiful - something with enormous potential. It was like the moments when a shot came into focus for me - when a scene became something with the potential to be art if I could only line things up right. Or in this case.. square. (Woodworker joke...)

For my whole adult life, I've thought of myself as "Gregory Nolan(.com), photographer." It's been who I am as much as what I do. There was a little while when I lost that and wasn't sure what came next - would I find my way back into that world? Would there be a "next thing" that could offer that same depth of meaning? 

Here I am now. Gregory Nolan(.com), woodworker. 

I can't wait to share what I create. 

P.S Don't think I put the camera down forever. You'll still see the photographer around from time to time.—-