Phil Penman comes from a tranquil corner in the county of Dorset, England. Today he works as a freelance street photographer in New York. Penman was born in 1977 in Briantspuddle a village in Dorset with 360 inhabitants and what feels like 30,000 sheep. He had an interest in the visual arts, photography and darkroom work at an early age. After studying photography at the Berkshire College of Art and Design his first job was at the Wokingham Times, a local newspaper published in Berkshire.
Penman photographed just about everything , including babies, sheep, and local politicians. At age 21, he received an offer from a photo agency and took charge of their customer Microsoft UK. Looking after the company meant taking most of the corporate portraits. Phil did not let this tie him down and he left Great Britain and set out for the United States. New York was his ultimate destination but he made a detour to los Angeles, where he worked for a celebrity news agency photographing living legends such as Jennifer Lopez, Bill Gates and Superman Christopher Reeve. After six months the agency sent him to New York to establish an office. During his time in New York, he has covered the biggest entertainment and news stories in America, including the September 11th World Trade center terrorist attacks – for which his work won worldwide recognition.