We were very sad to learn of the death of Gawaine Meechan, a talented and energetic photographer who had been actively involved with Redeye over the last year.

Gawaine was born in London in 1978 and started his photographic career as a ground photographer for the RAF. Looking to broaden his photographic outlook he obtained a first class degree in photography from the University of Cumbria in 2011, before successfully applying to be on Redeye's Lightbox course of 2012-13. He lived in Carlisle with his partner Louise Hill.

His friend Tony Mallon writes:

"I met Gawaine Meechan at Redeye's Lightbox 2 development programme for emerging photographers in September 2012. We quickly became friends, and work partners, from this time until his sudden death from natural causes, on 14 September 2013, at the age of 34.

Gawaine and I shared an interest in documentary and social photography. We both wanted to work on photography projects which involved the public, as viewers, and participants. As part of Lightbox 2, we had the opportunity to work, as part of the Blind Spot Collective, on a photography project called Stranded. This was part of LOOK/13, Liverpool's second international photography festival.

Through this project we were lucky to be able to meet and photograph veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic. This was incredibly interesting and humbling as we began to get insights into their experiences during wartime. Throughout this project Gawaine demonstrated his dedication and a growing enthusiasm for making photography more accessible to new audiences by displaying it in the public domain. 

After Stranded, Gawaine and I worked on another large scale photographic art project celebrating the heritage of Liverpool.  This is currently on display in Williamson Square and it has had a fantastic reaction from the public.

Gawaine applied to be on Lightbox 2 as he wanted to meet like-minded creative people, who shared his passion for photography, to work with and use as a sounding board for his ideas. I found a like-minded creative person in Gawaine and together we had the beginnings of a successful working relationship. We both gained a lot from working together and this was, for both of us, a new stage in our development as professional photographers.

Gawaine was also a good friend who is greatly missed. He was rightly proud of what he had achieved in the last year and he has left behind him two amazing photographic public artworks for a public he was so thrilled to get participating in and reacting to his great passion - photography."

Gawaine's funeral takes place at Carlisle Crematorium at 14:20 (2:20pm) on Friday 27 September 2013.