After gracefully dropping-out of a mechanical engineering degree at Birmingham University, Julien spent the following summer working and travelling in North America. With time on his hands and inspiration everywhere, it was here that he was really able to indulge his prior hobby, and shot continuously with his aging Ricoh SLR, whilst touring the length and breadth of the country.

Inspired by this rekindled creative outlet, and the ‘anything’s possible’ attitude of the US, he began dreaming of making photography his career, but on returning to the UK the grim reality of making a living from it made the prospect seem too far fetched. Various retail jobs followed, but Julien kept the embers glowing by assisting a local corporate photographer, Grantly Lynch. Bag carrying led to an informal training, and in 2002 Julien went solo and started shooting the occasional job.

Realising that he still had much to learn, and that his home town of Portsmouth wasn’t the throbbing, cultural, or artistic, epicentre that he once believed, he decided to look for a studio job in London, and soon ended up in Wimbledon at Malcolm Ryan’s. Eleven months of endless painting and sweeping were all that he could stomach, but his time there wasn’t completely wasted as he managed to observe some of the old guard in action, with the likes of Jack Bankhead, and Jerry Oke being regular visitors, and made invaluable contacts with some of the new wave of car photographers - Tim Kent being the most prominent.

The heady, glamorous world of freelancing was the obvious next step, and corporate assignments passed on by his previous mentor, Grantly, helped to keep the wolf from the door in the embryonic stages. The majority of the early assisting jobs were understandably automotive, but as time went by his contacts grew and the work became more varied.

Nearly five years on, and Julien has now worked on virtually every type of shoot possible, from bikes to cars, celebrities to fashion, bands, still life, and even underwater - both in the studio and on location. His reliability, professionalism, and conscientious approach to his work mean that the repeat bookings keep rolling in, from agents and photographers alike, and he now looks forward to a future of unique challenges, experiences, and encounters, that only a career in the photographic industry can offer.