Biography

Scott Mead was born in Washington, DC, and attended high school outside Boston and universities in the US and UK. He was an active photographer for 15 years through to his late twenties, when family, life and career intervened in positive ways. He then spent many years in finance in New York and London, mostly setting aside his camera but not his vision, leaving investment banking in 2003 to see where life’s journey would take him. During his twenty-year other career, before the onset of digital technology, he still managed to take well over 25,000 photographs.

Scott began seriously photographing at around the age of 13 when he received an old camera which had belonged to his grandfather, a press photographer. Soon after that, he set up a darkroom in his parents’ basement into which he disappeared for many hours at a time. At university he continued and greatly deepened his photographic work, studying with and being inspired by Emmet Gowin and William Eggleston, among many others. He moved to London in 1987, where he lives, and frequently travels to the US.

His first book, Looking Back, was published in 2010 alongside a solo presentation at Hamiltons Gallery. In 2018, Scott exhibited his Above the Clouds series, again at Hamiltons Gallery, accompanied by a book of the same title, published by Prestel. In 2022, Prestel also published Equivalents, an exploration of parallels and contrasts with an introduction by Brad Leithauser. In 2023, To look at things in bloom—a Bramley Studio publication exploring photography and poetry—was followed by Scott’s book Thoughts For My Children—life experiences collected in images and text—was published by Bramley Studio & Hurtwood. Scott’s forthcoming book Rites of Passage, published by Bramley Studio & Hurtwood, is due in the autumn of 2025. His photographs have been exhibited and collected widely throughout the world.

Scott is based at Bramley Studio, a former landmark pub in West London and now a creative hub which he established and leads with an emphasis on photography, creative engagement, artistic support and connection with the local community and beyond. He lives in London and spends extensive time in New York with frequent travels elsewhere. He serves on many not-for-profit boards in the US and UK and actively supports emerging artists, education, medical research and many other initiatives through The Mead Family Foundation, of which he is Founder and Chairman.