I studied history at Cambridge and have never stopped reading academic studies of the English Civil War and other mainly early-modern periods. Once I became interested in photography, history-related projects never came to anything until one summer weekend when I had had nothing planned and heard of a large multi-period re-enactment event nearby. Straight away I realized that I had a new subject for photography, and in hindsight it seems obvious that it would turn into a 15+ year project.

Apart from appreciating historical details, I also found it brought together other influences. One was that I had grown up reading newspapers and had always admired war reportage – above all, Don McCullin’s work in Vietnam, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and Lebanon. Another is my knowledge of art history, and sometimes a scene suddenly reminds me of Uccello or Breughel, for instance, or a Grant Wood on another occasion.