Behind the lens

about me

Paul Cowpe

Photography has run through my entire career. I spent 30 years in the Royal Navy working as a press and PR photographer and video cameraman. I then moved into wedding photography and later as an e-commerce photographic and content specialist in Dubai before retiring early in September 2024. This allowed me to focus on the work that matters most: travel, street, fine art architectural, and landscape photography.

I'm drawn to the tension between structure and spontaneity — the geometry of a building against the chaos of a street scene, the stillness of a landscape against the unpredictability of light. Whether I'm working a crowded market in Manila or an empty coastline in the UK, I'm looking for the same thing: a moment that says something true to my soul.

“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.”

— Ansel Adams

Retirement hasn’t slowed me down — it’s given me the freedom to travel more and shoot with intention rather than deadline. This site is a growing collection of that work.