Gail Ashton is a photographer and writer who tells stories about the ways we live with nature, and nature lives with us. She has a BA(Hons) in Photographic Communication and has just graduated with a Master's degree in Photography (Distinction) from Falmouth University. She is a Lecturer in Marine & Natural History Photography at Falmouth University.
Her work explores our relationship with other species and observes the interwoven fabric of different lives sharing the same spaces. She observes the reciprocal relationships between plants, insects, photography, and ecology, reframing species often dismissed as weeds or pests as vital collaborators within shared ecosystems. Through lower-toxicity cyanotype processes, plant-based chemistry, anthotypes, and camera-less photography, Gail positions plants and insects as active co-makers whose interactions shape both landscape and image. Feeding traces, pollination, decay, and regeneration become visual narratives of interconnectedness, adaptation, and survival, revealing the complex ecologies embedded within everyday environments.
Drawing on historical photographic processes and influenced by early practitioners she combines analogue and digital methods to create works that centre process, materiality, and collaboration with the natural world. Her projects often involve circular approaches to image-making, using plant-derived developers, toners, and emulsions created in partnership with nature. By treating plants and insects as participants rather than subjects, Gail seeks to challenge anthropocentric perspectives and encourage deeper attentiveness to the fragile systems that sustain life. Ultimately, her practice asks how photography might evolve toward a more sustainable, reciprocal and ecologically collaborative future.
Drawing on historical photographic processes and influenced by early practitioners she combines analogue and digital methods to create works that centre process, materiality, and collaboration with the natural world. Her projects often involve circular approaches to image-making, using plant-derived developers, toners, and emulsions created in partnership with nature. By treating plants and insects as participants rather than subjects, Gail seeks to challenge anthropocentric perspectives and encourage deeper attentiveness to the fragile systems that sustain life. Ultimately, her practice asks how photography might evolve toward a more sustainable, reciprocal and ecologically collaborative future.
Gail has co-authored natural history books, as well as writing articles and publishing photographs in a range of magazines and publications. She is a contributing photographer to the RSBP Image Library, and gives talks and workshops. about photography and natural history.
Exhibitions
2025: Landings 25. Group exhibition: MA research cluster, IoP Gallery, Falmouth University, UK.
2024: Solo exhibition: Insects of Norfolk. Norfolk Wildlife Trust Cley Marshes, Norfolk, UK.
Books
2026: (co-authored) Photographic Field Guide to Flies of Britain & Ireland. Pisces Publishing, Oxford.
image selected for FLORA. Shutterhub Editions, Cambridge
2024: (co-authored) An Insect a Day. Batsford Books, London. 2025 Wainwright Prize Longlist (Illustrative).
2023: (co-authored) Photographic Guide to Garden Trees of Britain and Europe. John Beaufoy, London.
(co-authored) A Year of Garden Bees and Bugs. Batsford Books, London.
2022: (co-authored) Photographic Guide to Garden Insects of Britain and Europe. John Beaufoy, London.