Colin Watkins was born in Essex, UK in 1958 to a working-class family. He went to the Southend School of Art and Design at the age of 18 and studied photography under the tutelage of Peter C. Fredricks. He gained a City and Guilds in Photography. After a brief stint working as a photographer in fashion and advertising, he left this path to pursue a different career. Then 10 years ago he went back to photography, but wanted to keep with the traditional processes that he had previously used. The world of photography is saturated now with digital images, which are over edited and can become manufactured. This is why Colin wants to carry on in the traditional methods include wet-plate, cyanotype, paper negs and film. He prints on glass and metal, and says: “I feel that these processes have more permanence, and can better capture the soul and mood of the subject.”