Paul Bence is a Welsh photographer, born in Bridgend and living in Wandsworth, South London. Not So Far (2016–2021), close photographs of strangers in the street with no faces shown, was published as a zine by Southdown Press in 2023. At the end of 2019 he began photographing the River Wandle, a small river running through South London to the Thames at Wandsworth, and the people who live and work along it. He makes handmade books and zines, often on washi or found paper. Since 2020 he has co-hosted The Idle Hands Society, a podcast about photography, with Dan Higginson.
Projects
2019–2026: The God of the Great River. Seven years on the River Wandle, South London. Photobook dummy, 2026.
2016–2021: Not So Far. Close street photographs of strangers, with no faces.
2013–2017: That Good Night. Tooting, South London.
2018: Are We Living in a Simulation.
2008–2012: Whilst We Were Young. London club nights, including Corsica Studios.
2022 onwards: Paste-ups on a wall beside the Wandle Trail. Free outdoor shows, printed at home and pasted up, then photographed until the wall is painted over.
Publications
Not So Far, zine, 2023. Southdown Press. Cover by Jaime Gili, design by Peter Clarkson.
Handmade books and zines
2024: The Constant Dance of Being, handmade book on Awagami washi.
2024: Memory, handmade book.
2024: Puff Puff; Binary and Binary 02; Bracing for a Bombshell; Nobody's Born Alone; 01 Starling (South London, 2009–2017); Eyes Full of Mornings; Triple the Rent.
2024: One-page zines: Adult Youth Club, Scaffolding Rattling, Last Stop, Barry Island (photographs by Tom Collins), It Must Be a Sign (2020–2023).
2023: Common Differences, handmade book on police tape.
2023: Tiny and matchbox books, including People in Cars, She Came By, and Some of These People Are My Friends (1/1, Nepalese lokta).
2023: Whilst We Were Young, print on washi over 1990s NME pages.
Other work
The Idle Hands Society, a podcast on photography, co-hosted with Dan Higginson, 2020 onwards.
Commercial photography, 1996 onwards.