Richard Oughton
Documentary & Portrait Photographer

North-West, UK | rjoughton@gmail.com | 07759193715 | Website: https://www.richardoughton.co.uk/

Profile

Documentary and portrait photographer with a long-term focus on British subculture, community, and place. My work is shaped by repetition, ritual, and shared experience, developed through slow, observational methods. Alongside ongoing personal projects, I undertake commissioned work for cultural and community organisations. I am currently completing an MA in Photography at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Professional Experience

Freelance Photographer — Self-employed (2015 – Present)

Documentary and portrait commissions for cultural, community, and creative organisations
Selected commissions:
  • LeftCoast (Blackpool) — on-location portrait series of the organisation’s team
  • Harlem Shuffle Records (Canada) — front and back cover photography for a Northern Soul       album DJed by Andy Smith (Record Store Day 2024)
  • Fever (Candlelight Concerts) — location-based photography; selected for local knowledge and low-light working
- Location portraiture using off-camera flash, enabling sitters to remain in familiar environments
- End-to-end project management: briefing, planning, production, delivery

Specialist Practitioner (Digital Photography for Beginners) — Blackpool School of Arts April 2016 – Present)

- Design and deliver the evening class Digital Photography for Beginners
- Develop and manage the scheme of work
- Support student progression into further education and creative pathways

Gallery Founder / Curator — Open Hand Independent Art Space, Blackpool (2024, short-term)

- Founded and ran a small independent gallery space
- Curated exhibitions by local and emerging artists
- Managed programming, installation, and day-to-day operations

Selected Projects

Northern Soul — Ongoing documentary project (20 years)

Where The Wind Howls — Ongoing analogue project

Selected Exhibitions & Publications

Exhibitions

Do Your Thing (Northern Soul) — Blackpool School of Arts Gallery, April 20th - May 29th, 2026

Do Your Thing brings together two Northern Soul worlds—Manchester’s Room at the Top, with its close‑quartered grit and shadowed edges, and London’s Rivoli Ballroom, where red velvet and ornate detail frame the same relentless pulse. Shot throughout 2025, the work traces how place shapes devotion: the sweat‑dark corners, the grand sweep of a listed ballroom, and the dancers who move through both with the same fierce commitment to rhythm. Across these contrasting rooms, the photographs hold to a quiet, peripheral gaze, attentive to the gestures and unguarded intervals in which individuality dissolves into collective energy.

Photo North Festival, Leeds 2023-2024

Publications / Releases

Bother Magazine, Issue 6 — published 26 August 2025
Harlem Shuffle Records (Canada) — Album cover (front & back), Record Store Day 2024 Paraphilia Magazine – 001 Front cover                                          The Heritage Post – No 46 Images accompanying article                       Showtown Museum, Blackpool Northern Soul Exhibition two images on show  Rankin: 2020 – A Year Like No Other — self-portrait included

Education

MA Photography — Manchester Metropolitan University (September 2025 – Present)

L3 Award in Education & Training (AET) — 2017

BA (Hons) Three Dimensional Design (Ceramics) — University of Central Lancashire, 1993 – 1996

Skills

Documentary & Portrait Photography | Specialist practitioner (Teather) Long-term Project Development | Analogue Photography | Location Lighting (Off-camera Flash) | Visual Storytelling | Community-Based Practice