Darlington-born photographer Luke Stephenson tells Jenny Needham about his latest obsession - a real flight of fancy, three years in the making

One morning while eating a bowl of cornflakes, Luke Stephenson noticed that every cornflake in his bowl was unique. But instead of letting that thought pass, he set about photographing each cornflake – 7,122 in total - to show off their individuality and also answer a nagging question in his mind: “How many cornflakes are in a box of cornflakes?”

“My original estimate was around 3,000, but I soon realised this was way off,” says the Darlington-born 34-year-old who has made a career photographing subjects that epitomise British eccentricity. Often humorous in their outlook, his series range from the World Beard and Moustache Championships and the Clown Egg Register to 99 x 99s ( the story of the 99 ice cream through a 3,500-mile photographic road trip around the UK) and, most recently, show birds. The 34-year-old spent the best part of three years touring shows all over the country where the birds are exhibited and sold, photographing hundreds of subjects for his book, An Incomplete Dictionary of Show Birds.

It began with a very simple idea. “At college I had a tutor who introduced us to a project he’d done on pigeons and told us all about racing pigeon photography,” says Luke. “This really stuck with me for a long time and I decided I wanted to take photographs of budgies. I contacted a man from a budgie club in London, went to his house and took some photos of his birds.”

Luke wasn’t blown away by his initial efforts, but the world of bird keeping had got its claws into him and it became another obsession. When he returned back up North, he frequented a bird club in Carlisle, meeting a great number of people (mostly men) who were happy to share their enthusiasm and knowledge with him. “Upon entering this world, I discovered a whole range of wonderfully colourful and interesting birds,” he says. “I began to learn about the hobby of bird keeping and soon it had sucked me in.”

Luke spent three years photographing birds for the first part of the project, using a 70cm x 50cm box as a miniature studio. “I was told that a bird will generally go to the highest point you give it, so I placed the only perch where I needed them to be to get a sharp picture,” he says. “Most birds settle very quickly, but the smaller ones are a little more flighty. In bird photography of this kind they generally use contrasting colours in the background to bring out the shape and form of the bird as this is how they are judged in shows, so for example, if you have a yellow canary, you’d use a blue background. Although I do also use this technique, I’m coming at the work from a different place, so I also use more pastel colours to make a more beautiful picture.

“This became very infectious and turned me into a sort of collector of birds, not by owning or breeding them, but simply by photographing a certain species and adding it to my collection, allowing me to tick this bird from my self-imposed list.”

Luke was born in Darlington hospital on New Year’s day 1983 and lived in the town for seven years before the family headed west to Carlisle. “My grandma, aunties, uncles and cousins still live in the North-East so I used to visit Darlington quite a bit, though I haven’t had much chance lately,” says Luke. At school, frustrated by his lack of artistic talent, he turned to photography. “There was a tiny dark room and it was a way of getting out of art class,” he says. “It always annoyed me that my paintings looked nothing like what I was painting so I suppose photography was a perfect fit.”

After graduating in 2005, the fledgling photographer headed off to London and very quickly his career took off. The same year, he was awarded the Jerwood Photography Prize and in 2006 was selected as one of ten photographers to showcase their work at the International Festival of Fashion and Photography at Hyeres, France. Since then, his work has been published in a variety of publications including The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Dazed & Confused and Wallpaper.

“Winning the Jerwood Prize really got my work noticed and I started working for some good magazines pretty much straight out of university, which was amazing although I was a little green and didn’t really know what I was doing,” says Luke. “I’ve been very lucky to do what I do. I’ve met a lot of interesting people and been to some interesting places, but I think publishing my two books has been my career highlight.”

Luke can see that some people might think some of his subject matter is a little odd. “But primarily, I try to do work that interests me and just hope other people will also find it interesting too. I think that philosophy also inspires my collections as I generally need to be really excited by an idea before it starts to take shape. I always have lots of ideas floating about, although unfortunately these days they seem to take a lot of planning and research so take some time to complete.”

One thing, though – he won’t be taking any more pictures of cornflakes. “That was one of the most boring weeks of my life,” he laughs.

  • 99x99s is available from stephensonpress.com. An Incomplete Dictionary of Show Birds is available from Amazon.
  • Also showing at Selfridges, London, until April 3, is In Fine Feather, a large-scale presentation of more of Stephenson’s bird portraits. Prices start from £700 + vat