More about Vincent Guy

"Every object has its own story; a photo captures that story and retells it in light"

Photography, as every Greek knows, is writing with light. So I am attracted by the shadow on the wall rather than the person in front of it, by the sun coming through a transparent leaf rather than the branch itself.

While studying Philosophy at Oxford, I spent more time directing plays than reading Plato. Oxford undergraduate theatre is a common road into the profession. I took it, and spent a decade as a theatre director all round the UK. My work included shows of many kinds from Shakespeare to Ionesco, from Moliere to Pinter, a period teaching at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), staging a fashion show and collaborating on a ballet with voices.

I then spent a few years travelling the world and went on to a new career as a communication trainer for business people. This took me far afield, all over Europe as well as Latin America, India and the Middle East, learning as much as I could of the languages and cultures I met. My training activities focussed on cross-cultural understanding – how to build trust between people of different nationalities, languages and ways of life – and I published a book about it.

For the last 20 years I’ve been a frequent visitor to Greece and with Kalliopi ran a series of events entitled M.Y.T.H.: Move Your Thoughts Higher. This was participative theatre with elements of story-telling, dance therapy and self-discovery, based on the legends of ancient Europe.

Since moving to Scotland, my theatre career has re-opened. I’ve acted at the Edinburgh Fringe and elsewhere in pieces by and about Scottish writers, such as RL Stevenson and Walter Scott. Recently, I’ve been in a new radio play about the Antarctic explorer Captain Scott, and played a wheelchair-bound novelist.

Diversifying again, I help my daughter Zoë’s singing career. We’ve put out two CDs of original and traditional music: Join the Dots and Love Burns – raising several thousand pounds for charity.