10 everyday objects to inspire you by Paul Smith

|My father bought me this Kodak Retinette for my eleventh birthday, in 1957. It was my first proper camera. He was a founder member of the camera club in Beeston, the town where I lived, just outside Nottingham, and he was very passionate about photography. It was the first time I’d ever thought about looking and seeing, seeing things through the little viewfinder, which makes you look more carefully, and that’s something that has helped me in my job over the years.

"Nowadays, like everybody, I take photographs with
my iPhone. But taking photographs with the Kodak and film, long before digital technology, taught me patience. You had to compose the shot, and then you had to wait to see the result, while wondering if you’d got it horribly wrong. And the business of framing was important. When people buy things, it’s like they’re looking at a snapshot. They don’t care that your influence was a trip to Chile or the colours of the sunset. They just think, ‘I like that shirt.’"

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