David Spero is a British photographer known for his quietly contemplative enquiries into overlooked communities and the appropriation of space.

For Settlements, Spero spent 10 years documenting communities that aim to live with minimal impact on the environment. The series focusses on self-built dwellings, featuring structures erected in line with their residents’ ecologically sustainable, land-based living. These communities are almost entirely self-sufficient; they use recycled building materials, renewable energy sources and grow their own food. This body of work follows four low-impact communities: Tinker’s Bubble and King’s Hill in Somerset, Brithdir Mawr in Pembrokeshire, and Steward Woodland in Dartmoor. Each is home to between 10 and 20 residents who value close proximity to nature and a visceral connection with the land they inhabit. These photographs are a sensitive record of how these communities live, surrounded by lush green settings in dense forest that suggest an almost fairytale-like quality.

Spero graduated from his studies at the Royal College of Art in 1993. Since then, he has made many celebrated photographic series, including Settlements, Churches and Ball Photographs. Spero’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Northern Photography Centre, Finland, the National Media Museum, Bradford, and The Photographers’ Gallery, London. He was awarded the Photoworks Fellowship at the British School in Rome in 2009. He has also been the recipient of the British Council Award and the Kyoto Exchange Award. A monograph of his series Churches was published in 2007 and of the series Settlements in 2017.