I'm a British Photography Award winner – I'm still worried about what comes next

Award-winning photographer David Gilliver has built an international reputation from his playful miniature worlds, secured global commercial clients and collected some of the industry's most prestigious prizes.

Despite being nominated in four categories at this year's British Photography Awards - winning one of them - the 47-year-old fears he may not be able to sustain a career behind the camera.

He said if 2027 is like 2026, he may have to find a part-time job.

His fears highlight the pressures facing even established artists, as consumers cut discretionary spending and art sales fall.

Gilliver has been a mainstay at the British Photography Awards since the Covid-19 pandemic when his depiction of miniature swimmers on the pool-like lines of a medical mask impressed the judging panel.

His latest nominations come after more than three decades behind the camera.

His roots in professional photography go back to the late 1990s when he enrolled in a fine art photography degree at Glasgow's School of Art.

It was during this time when he developed a passion for macro photography, a style using perspective to create amusing and striking images.

His individual take on it involves miniature figurines, his "little people", positioned against true-to-size objects to create juxtaposed scenes.

But after struggling to find sustained work, he "took the plunge" to find more stable employment and headed to the Channel Islands, where his sister lived.

In 2001, he moved to Guernsey and found a role in the finance industry.

"It was meant to last six months, but that turned into 14 years," he said.

Though a more lucrative avenue at the time, the day job couldn't entirely overshadow his creative work.

"My art practice [was] very much alive in the background," he said.

"It was during my time on Guernsey that I became interested in light painting and night photography.

"I started going out at night time and discovering the island under the cover of darkness, which no-one else seemed to be doing at the time, and documented Guernsey in a very unique manner."

This was flipped on its head in 2012 when he herniated a disc in his spine while "swinging kettlebells around" at a fitness class.

"It completely wrecked my lower back," he said.

"I was in absolute agony. I could barely sit down."

After years of surgery, physio appointments and several attempts to return to the office, he decided the pain was unbearable and he was forced into a life-changing decision – to drop the career and make photography pay while also raising a young daughter.

"I just quite simply had to make it work," he said.

Over the next decade he hustled and honed his craft with a focus on the "little people" series and light photography in order to position himself in two niche areas of the art in a bid to make a living from it.

In four of the last five years, he has won accolades at the British Photography Awards, being nominated in four categories at the 2026 ceremony.

The competition now welcomes more than 40,000 entrants each year, with just 40 people receiving awards at the annual gala in central London's Royal Lancaster hotel.

"When I was shortlisted for four this year, I was quite speechless actually, because normally it's just one or two images that you manage to sneak in," he said.

A shoot with an international car company won the commercial award this year, but another highlight was being nominated in the food and drink category with an absurdist scene of miniature firefighters extracting juice from grapes to refill their wine bottle.

"I mean, it's just ridiculous," he said.

"I had the cheek to enter that into the food and drink category alongside professional food photographers."

This child-like playfulness has been part of why his style has been so successful, with Gilliver saying despite his years in the profession, his work is still only 10% technique and camera skills, and 90% creativity.

"The strength of the work lies in the concepts and the silly ideas," he said.

His unique style also often prompts others to ask "What goes on inside your head?", the title of his entry in this year's self-portrait category.

It shows his little figurines playing, working and dancing around his head.

But despite the awards, the industry is still tough in the current economic climate, Gilliver said.

As people feel squeezed by inflation, he said he has to keep "extremely busy" to fill his schedule, doing everything from teaching workshops to writing books.

"The problem with years like this year where it's a very nervous economy and people aren't spending as much, one of the first things people stop doing is buying art and that has been very evident," he said.

"I mean, I'm probably over 60%, 70% down in terms of art sales, which is quite concerning.

"My monthly workshops, they are probably at least 50% down as well."

The awards have helped him to secure several commercial shoots with companies able to pay a larger sum than the average art buyer, but he isn't entirely sure what lies ahead.

"Things feel like they're going well on paper, and there's not much further elbow room in terms of general improvement," he said.

"I think that's where things are a little bit worrying."

Despite this, he is determined to carry on.

"I'm going to squeak by this year, I think, just."

Another big commercial shoot is on the horizon and he hopes it could put 2027 on more stable footing.

But unlike other artists who eventually quit to find a more stable profession behind a desk, Gilliver said his health leaves him with few alternatives.

"If I don't make this work, I have nothing else to really fall back on," he said.