Spencer Murphy was born in 1978 and grew up in the Kentish countryside. Raised in relative isolation, miles from the nearest shop or school, Spencer often found himself with only his imagination for company and the surrounding woodland as his playground. It was a combination of this imagination and an early discovery of his mother’s back issues of Life and National Geographic that sparked an early enthusiasm for photography at the age of 11. As a result, his parents bought him his first camera and photography quickly became a channel for his creativity.
Spencer now lives and works in London, dividing his time between creating his own artwork, taking on photographic commissions and lecturing on photography at University College Falmouth.
He has contributed to many magazines, including The Guardian Weekend, The Sunday Telegraph – Seven Magazine, The New Statesman, Monocle and Wired. His portraits have also appeared in such publications as Rolling Stone Magazine, GQ and Dazed and Confused. He has exhibited throughout Europe and North America and was named as one of the Hyeres Festival’s emerging photographers of 2008. He was also included in the National Portrait Gallery Photographic Portrait Prize (now Taylor Wessing) exhibition in 2006, 2008 and 2009. His work has also been acquired for the NPG's Pemanent Collection
