Mike Taylor

Mike Taylor

United Kingdom | Born 1963

„I’ve always wanted to go and photograph those fantastic congregations in America’s
Southern Baptist churches where people get lost in the rapture of praising the Lord.
But I’m a photographer living in East Kent and not South Carolina…
and so I have realistic expectations for my projects. Watching and shooting people
who are totally lost and absorbed in what’s going on is fascinating to me.
And that’s exactly what people do in pubs when there are big international games on.“

Mike Taylor

“I never intended or planned to shoot football crowds in pubs, I stumbled upon this fantastic opportunity for people watching quite by accident. To be completely honest, I don’t follow football and never actually have. I’ve lived most of my life without the beautiful game in it. Sport of any kind is just not in my DNA.

But to many people football is a religion and so it’s unsurprising that they get just as enraptured and caught up in the game. Watching and shooting people who are totally lost and absorbed in what’s going on is fascinating to me. And that’s exactly what people do in pubs when there are big international games on. During the match I always do listen closely to the game’s commentators while I’m shooting as they give you warning that something’s about to happen, but I’m never looking at the screen – always at the crowd. It’s definitely a benefit not to be interested in football if you want to shoot the fans. I’ve said several times over the years that if you’re in any way interested in the game, you’re not really focusing on the fans or their reactions.

I work hard to find the right pubs, get them onside and create a rapport before I start. I now never go in cold or without doing the groundwork. I always make sure the pub management/landlord is on side and more than that – is actually keen for me to do it before I set out to shoot anything there. Maybe I’m lucky that I know a lot of people who run pubs. 

And I intended to continue shooting fans in pubs – this is a living breathing photography project I can add to each time there is a major tournament.”

Mike Taylor discovered photography as a space-mad six year old, watching Neil Armstrong take a picture on the moon –  the first thing he did when he arrived there. As a journalist he was the head of Sky Movies online and Chair of BAFTA’s Digital Strategy Group. But in 2018 he took what he learned over a long and varied career and used it for his photography. In 2025 Mike won the Street Photography category of the Cewe Photo Award and the same year he wrote a book about “everything I’d learned.”