Janey McGill...behind the lens

I was born and raised in the Surrey countryside, aside from a couple years in the bright lights of Las Vegas as a child.

Post university I found myself in London for 15 years. Training as a solicitor I took the decision to make an existence in a ‘proper job’ bearable by joining the Army as a lawyer. On the slow journey to qualification I went thrill seeking and found myself in a hospital bed with five fractured vertebrae. That ended my military career and my legal career as I saw it.

For five years I ran an art gallery and consultancy gaining a valuable foundation for where I find myself now, nearly a decade on.

Post gallery and not one for the city I escaped London many times. Once to a fairytale chateau in rural SW France to care for a blind dog and a herd of horses. And another time, perhaps my most poignant escape, was a complete immersion into the World’s largest sand desert on the Arabian Peninsula with a small team of Middle Eastern and Western men and women. Essentially trying to work out what this life is all about. I’m not sure if I’m any further on; though far richer for the experience. And now with a feature length documentary for release this summer, 2023.

Returning from the desert my camera and I found ourselves working as team photographer for a Swiss energy drink and their motorsport team. This led me to permanently escape the big city to the Oxfordshire countryside and the motorsport capital of the country. Which is most useful for fulfilling my classic car dashboard fetish. The company went under, but my love for film and photography only grew to working independently. 

That dashboard fetish found me frequenting Northern Italy and Switzerland on a regular basis to document private collectors and classic car enthusiasts competing in some of the finest classic car races known. 

As I write this biography there is a definite theme that emerges; escapism, and that I believe is why I favour photography and film as a medium. For the moments of escapism that I can immerse myself in with my clients, from behind the lens. It’s fabulously fulfilling.