I am a winner of the Vogue and Independent on Sunday writing competitions, and co-author of the Rough Guide to Walks in London & Southeast England, described by Will Self as “pornography for the desk-bound”.

I have eaten, drunk and shopped my way round the capital to research listings for Rough Guide to London; been held up at gunpoint researching the Naples chapter of the Rough Guide to Italy; and watched a century’s worth of British film to write a piece for the Rough Guides to Britain and England.

Until 2004 I worked on the staff at Rough Guides, becoming a managing editor, a role I held for three years. I supervised staff and commissioned new editions of the guides, as well as continuing to work as an editor. Among the titles I edited for Rough Guides are the first editions of Indonesia, Cape Town and First Time Around the World, and the Rough Guide to London by the Book, a guide to literary London which launched the Get London Reading campaign. I continue to work for the company as an editor, author and photographer.

In 2005/6 I studied at Central Saint Martins on their Postgraduate Certificate in Photography course; my major project for Saint Martins was a collection of portraits constituting the archive of an imagined film studio. I am the commissioned photographer for many Rough Guides, from Sydney to the Scottish Highlands.

My web site is www.helenasmith.co.uk.