Tim Daly

Tim Daly is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of Chester, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, where he teaches digital and analogue photography and artists' publishing process across undergraduate programmes. He has been an active documentary photography practitioner since 1987 and has extensive experience in curriculum design, programme development, and collaborative partnerships, including transnational provision with private providers in Florence and Singapore.

Daly holds a PhD in Materiality and the printed photograph in artists' books from Manchester Metropolitan University (2016), an MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art (1989), and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Bath Academy of Art (1987). He also completed a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education from the University of Chester (2010).

His research focuses on the 'thingness' of photography and the materiality of the photographic print, with particular interest in how unconventional formats like dossiers and folios can provide enhanced, haptic reading experiences. Since 1987, Daly has documented Plotlands-era houses and chalets, exploring vernacular construction methods of interwar coastal housing. In 2021, he established The Plotlands Archive, an online visual database celebrating resourcefulness and creativity in these unique structures.

Daly's publication portfolio demonstrates a consistent focus on the material aspects of photography and its relationship to place, memory, and vernacular culture. His recent work has particularly emphasized the Plotlands movement and the haptic experience of photobooks, showing an interdisciplinary approach that bridges photography, architecture, heritage studies, and visual anthropology.

His significant professional recognitions include:

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2010)
• Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (2019)

As an academic supervisor, Daly has guided numerous postgraduate research projects, including studies on phenomenological approaches to place, material traces in analogue photographic processes, and identity in post-conflict photography in Northern Ireland. His external examining work spans multiple UK higher education institutions and their international partners, reflecting his standing in the field of photography education.

Daly established Fugitive Press in 2017 as a platform for his artist books and creative projects, which explore touch and disruptive sequencing through unconventional formats. His work has been exhibited widely at prestigious venues including The Photographers' Gallery in London and the Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst in Berlin.