Storytelling is photography's strongest suit - well, at least that's my idea of it, and what I've always done. Sometimes it's possible to tell a (very short) story in a single picture, but more usually it takes a set. And also a shoot that's been planned. Most of the stories here were magazine assignments, many for the Smithsonian magazine, my career-long client (and career-moulding client). I began working for the first picture editor Caroline Despard, when the great Ed Thomson was editor in chief, and continued. Other stories were shot for clients as diverse as the Sunday Times Magazine, GEO and International Wildlife.