Terry Morris (artist And Photographer)

Terry Morris (born 6 September 1965 in Llanelli) is a Welsh artist who is primarily known for his photography, particularly his association with the Cool Cymru arts movement.

Early life

Terry Morris was born in Llanelli in September 1965. He attended Lakefield Infant and Primary School before moving on to Graig Comprehensive School, Llanelli.
Self-confessed as 'not the best academic', Terry lost interest in school during his teens and only stayed on his final year, aged 15, to study woodwork with his favourite teacher 'Mr Evans' (Mike Evans), lovingly known as 'Killer' (due to his Size 13 plimsole!)

Terry left school at 16 and joined the Parachute Regiment in which he served for one year.

During the following years he worked in many different jobs, including as a labourer for his father's building firm, before settling as a welder for Llanelli-based sound and lighting fir
PA Installations

Early career

In his 30s Terry went back to college (Gorseinon College) to study Black and White Documentary Photography before starting on the freelance circuit working weekends for the local newspapers ( Llanelli Star and Evening Post).

Still employed by PA Installations, Terry was offered a week’s work with the Star when the staff photographer took a week's annual leave. Seeing it as his chance, Terry took a week's sick leave from his employer to cut his teeth as a 'proper' freelance photographer – only to be caught red-handed by his boss halfway through the week and sacked on the spot!

He then went on to work regularly for local and regional media titles before starting to hit the front pages of national tabloids and broadsheets.

Press photography started to lose its appeal in the early 2000s when Terry's ambitions started to grow. A chance to photograph former Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable, who was in town having his latest tattoo, led to him taking his first steps towards achieving his ambition of becoming the first portrait photographer to capture a photographic Welsh Hall of Fame – later to become known as the ''Cool Cymru Collection''

Cool Cymru

In 2006 his first published collection, entitled '' Cool Cymru'' was exhibited at the Wales Millennium Centre, becoming the first photographic collection to hang on its walls. Opened at the launch by one of the collection's featured stars, Charlotte Church, all 12 prints in the original collection were auctioned, raising over £20,000 for The Noah's Ark Appeal, the fundraising arm of the Children's Hospital of Wales. It went on to tour other Welsh venues.

Launched alongside the photographic collection, the book ''Cool Cymru Collection'' . included his portraiture and documented his struggles to finance his dream project and make it a reality. There was also a three-part television documentary filmed by Llanelli-based production company Tinopolis.

Those pictured in the collection were:

* Shirley Bassey
* Tom Jones
* Katherine Jenkins

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