Thank you for visiting this site. Richard specialises primarily in architectural photography for the construction, retail, residential and leisure (bars, clubs, casinos & restaurants) industries. He now shoot all of his commercial images digitally on high-end professional equipment, with over 30 years experience in digital image capture.
Richard has been involved in the photography industry from a very early age, initially working as a 2nd assistant for Dennis Constantine before studying photography at Bournville College of Art and Gloucester College of Art. During and after this period, he continued to work as a freelance assistant in both London and Birmingham. In 1989, he started Emphasis photography which aimed to be the 1st specialist food photographers in Birmingham.
Within a very short period of time, the speciality of the practice went in a completely different direction and he became a major supplier of images to the construction & leisure industries. He has been motivated to continue to develop his personal work and this has resulted in the production of 3 book projects - 'Passing Through Gethsemane', 'Smethwick' and 'Spaghetti'.
His client base now includes over 150 companies of which 30 are in the FTSE 250. He will undertake commissions anywhere within Europe within (hopefully!) 2 days notice. He has been Security Bonded by the government thus allowing him to work in more sensitive areas such as airports, prisons, detention centres and military research facilities.
He also has an extensive dtp and digital manipulation facilities and can supply images in either print or digital media.
Unlike many of his competitors, he does not describe himself as a 'natural light photographer' (who is reliant on the prevalent light conditions) - instead he carries an extensive portable lighting system to make sure the required images are captured regardless of the environment, working in harmony with the existing lighting schemes to ensure the ambience of the interior is retained as the original designer intended. All images are now captured digitally and along with an extensive range of post production services.
Also, he is current undertaking a range of personal projects based on the Birmingham area he has lived in for 50 years and the market sectors he has worked in.
Over the last 36 years, he has built up a library over 250,000 images of various construction and leisure projects from which individual images can be purchased. If you have any queries or require further information please do not hesitate to contact us.
All operatives have CRB checks, hold CSCS cards (for the construction industry) and have the appropriate insurances (Public Liabilty, Professional Indemity and Employers Liability)
Richard is a Full Member of the Association of Photographers (former chairman of the working group for education), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a member of the National Union of Journalists.
Exhibitions - (Richard Southall)
Venice - Guildhall 1988
Summer Exhibition - The Public, West Bromwich 2011 (Group Exhibition)
'Smethwick' - Birmingham 2011 (Solo Exhibition)
Frame13 - Birmingham 2013 (Group Exhibition)
Madin's Library - Birmingham 2013 (Solo Exhibition)
PAIL - The Public, West Bromwich 2013 (Group Exhibition)
Frame14 - Birmingham 2014 (Group Exhibition)
'Clubbed' - Birmingham 2014 (Solo Exhibition)
Frame Autumn Exhibition - Birmingham 2014 (Group Exhibition)
Unifi - Gallery 116 2015 (Group Exhibition)
Frame15 - Birmingham 2015 (Group Exhibition)
90 Degrees of Separation 2016 (Group Exhibition)
Reclaim West Midlands 2016 (Group Exhibition)
Frame16 - Birmingham 2016 (Group Exhibition)
Reclaim West Midlands 2017 (Group Exhibition)
Royal Birmingham Society of Arts 2017 (Group Exhibition)
Birmingham Library purchased a set of the images from stage of Madin's Library project for the permanent archive in 2015.
Books
Passing Through Gethsemane - 2009
Smethwick - 2010
Spaghetti - 2011
Twenty First Century Bars - 2011
Brooklyn Bowl London - 2014
Publications (Magazines, Newspapers & Journals)
69 Degrees Magazine
A1 Lighting Magazine
Bar Magazine
Canmaker
Casino Life
CNN
Country Life
Daily Express
Daily Mail
Disco International
Elle Decor
Evening Standard
F2 Freelance Photographer
Filling Business
Google Finance
Guardian
GS Magazine
Hospitality Interiors
Independant
Live Magazine
Metro
Mirror
Mondo Arc
Mondo DR
Night Magazine
Premier Hospitality Magazine
Professional Lighting Design
Sunday Times
Sunday Times Supplement
Telegraph
Telegraph Magazine
Theme
The Times
Sunday Times
UK Construction Magazine
Vogue