Niall Hodson

My name is Niall Hodson and I am a London/Manchester based photographer who has been brought up in Greater Manchester and from a working-class background. I am 19 years old and currently studying fashion photography at the University of the Arts London. the main approach in my photography is narrative, I feel very strongly that everybody has a story to tell and if willing to listen you can find so much wealth and beauty within others. It’s my favorite part of being a photographer.

“only the man on the moon knows and he won’t tell”

An ongoing project of currently 29 photographs that focus on what was once my everyday life. The idea for this photo series first came to me when I was made to return back to my hometown of Ashton under Lyne in Greater Manchester. this was due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Prior to this, I was living in London studying fashion photography, and coming home was the last thing I wanted to do. When I got home, I was quite annoyed about the situation so began to start walking around where I used to live just to blow some steam off. But after a couple of days of just walking around, I started to gain this real feeling of nostalgia from doing this simple activity. Places that I had overlooked for years started to show real beauty and being around my family again further enhanced this. It made me see how much I had grown and how much life changes over such a short period of time. It made me want to start documenting this, giving an idea of what my surroundings and my life were like with also showing the absence of certain things too like my Grandad, and how life moves on. The title of this project is a quote from my grandma that she has said for years. However, it has only resonated with me very recently after being on the phone with her. I can’t remember what I said exactly but it had something to do with the uncertainty of the future and in reply to this she said, “only the man on the moon knows and he won’t tell”.

To view more of Niall Hodson’s work please visit their website.