10/11/2016
ABOUT HUGO
Born in 1966, Hugo spent his childhood on a farm in the North of Zimbabwe. This early experience of space and the freedom to explore, strongly influenced his later decisions to work outdoors.
It was during his senior school years at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England (1980 - 85) that Hugo discovered his love for photography. Many hours were spent in the school dark rooms and he had an image published in Country Life Magazine.
After school he spent a year travelling on his own in America, followed by a few months in Dubai before being commissioned into the British army where he served for five years.
In a very memorable snow storm Hugo married Alice in Hereford, England in December 1990. Two years later they left England to go farming in Zimbabwe where they remained for ten years until the middle of 2002 when the farming industry was closed down by the Zimbabwe Government. It was during this period that their daughter Zoe was born followed by twin boys, Ivan and Dima.
Moving to Harare, Hugo developed his old love for black and white photography and learnt to print on canvas. All his pictures are taken with slide film and painstakingly developed through drum scanning.
In 2004 He and his family moved to South Africa, where he continued to develop the art and also enjoying living by the ocean.
Finally in 2007 Hugo and his family moved to Mkushi, Central Zambia. Hugo returned to his love of the bush and farming. More recently he has embarked upon growing a new crop called stevia. The only naturally grown sweetener, with zero calories. Hugo is one of the first commercial farmers to be growing stevia.
Hugo believes in conservation and in preserving and protecting the earth’s “development-free” areas. He feels very privileged that one of England’s greatest conservationists and artists, David Shepherd, opened both of his exhibitions in London.
