Event Details

Meet Steve and talk about his travelogue of Chongqing: Tuesday 30 January, 3-4pm or Thursday 1 February, 5-7pm. Alternatively, call in to view the exhibition any time from 29 January to 29 February: Monday to Friday, 9am-6.30pm.

Steve describes another aim of this project is to share the global experience of place via photography. Please use the QR codes on display in the exhibition in the Roundhouse to follow and feed #Chongqingfotos on Instagram where he can interact with you and share your favourite travel images, especially of Chongqing!

Steve Thomas Biography:

I was given my first camera, an Instamatic 33 aged 11 whilst I was living in India, but it wasn't until I was about 15 years old when my physics teacher at secondary school introduced me to black and white processing and printing that I got really hooked on photography. I badgered my mum until she gave me the £12 I needed to buy a second hand Russian Zorki 4 which was a real manual camera with shutter speeds and apertures.

I left school and worked in the Education department at St Helens Borough Council but it wasn't for me and after a year I left and started my full time journey into the world of photography. After 4 years in education, I qualified as a professional photographer with a Diploma from the Birmingham School of Photography and I have worked in the field of photography ever since including medical photography, lecturing here at Lancaster and a wide variety of freelance activities.

In reality, I came to the University in 1990 to work as a senior photographer in the Press Office and later became a Commercial Manager in charge of Design Photography and Print or what is now known as Creative Studio.

The roots of this exhibition probably started with my love of travel and my connection to the East having grown up as an expat living between India and England for much of my early years linked to my love of photography.

In 2006, I travelled to Sanya and Chongqing for the first time, and it was there I met my wife, Ming. There followed several more trips to Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing.

In 2019, I reduced my working hours with a view that I might be able to travel more and an extensive holiday to China was planned and booked, however the pandemic changed all that.

In a strange way, the lock down during the pandemic changed my outlook on life and my relationship with photography. I bought a small Fuji mirrorless camera and a few lenses and rediscovered that passion I had experienced as a young man with that cheap Russian camera. I started to use my days off to venture into the mountains and started to post images on Instagram and Facebook.

In September 2023, Ming and I finally got to return to Chongqing, despite the Typhoon that delayed us in Hong Kong, and this time I had a real opportunity to see this amazing city (some say the biggest in the world) through a photographer's eyes and the result is this exhibition. This mountain city built on and around the junction of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers has the most amazing infrastructure, food, people, and vibrancy I have ever experienced. The images shown in this exhibition aim to capture some of that energy although they only touch the surface and looking at them just makes me want to return!