Tina Rowe talks to photographer George Wright about his latest book of pictures – a catalogue of all the characters he's captured on camera during his career

C rime-writer Ruth Rendell stands alone and watchful in a dark and mysterious landscape. David Swift, maker of surreal toys, shows off his unique style beside a stormy sea.

Rare pig breeder Anne Petch laughs as she clutches a trio of lively piglets, and comedian Max Wall shares a joke with artist Maggie Hambling.

They are just a few of the people Dorset-based freelance photographer George Wright has met and photographed in a career spanning more than 30 years, and their portraits are among the absorbing, beautifully-lit images in his new book, called, quite simply, People I've Met.

The photographs were originally commissioned by newspapers and magazines, including the Observer, Independent, Daily Telegraph, Times, Sunday Times, Departures and European Travel & Life.

The carefully-composed pictures, usually taken using a large-format 5x4 plate camera or medium-format Haselblad, reflect their subjects' worlds, but the viewer might be surprised to learn how some came to be taken.

Mr Wright explains: "It is inevitable to have some preconceived ideas when you are given a commission, but things can change when you meet.

"When I was asked to photograph the Cornish writer D M Thomas I was thinking there has got to be some kind of stone in the picture.

"I drove all the way down to Truro and he said: 'Why don't you do the picture in the kitchen?'

"I said, 'No, you are going to have to give me an hour to do this, to me Cornwall is about stone.

He said: 'I suppose we could go to the mine where my father used to work', which was marvellous. I took him in the car, and he was wearing totally inappropriate footwear and I lent him a pair of gum boots and he laughed and said it would be entirely out of character."

The result is a strong, evocative, black and white image.

Mr Wright stood on the roof of his car to get his picture of Cornish poet Charles Causley, dwarfed by a massive lantern, while satirical writer Tom Sharpe posed on the ride-on lawnmower which he kept in a dog kennel at his home in Bridport.

One picture shows Russell Harty in East Berlin. Mr Wright recalls: "The Telegraph asked me if I would like to photograph him in Paris, then in Florence and East Berlin.

"He was a delightful companion, highly intelligent and great company and it was a great privilege to accompany him.

"We went to the home of Sir Harold Acton. I have been asked to photograph Sir Harold Acton three times. Once would have been a great honour. Here you are spending time with someone who has known all the great names of the 20th century."

Actress Julie Christie, actor, writer and director Bryan Forbes and poet Ted Hughes are among those featured, and West Country subjects include musician Polly Harvey and Wiveliscombe taxidermist David McKinley.

The allotment holders whom Mr Wright met in Yorkshire are among his favourite subjects. "Gardeners tend to be a generous bunch," he says. "You tend to come back with bunches of flowers and loads of vegetables."

Some People I've Met is published by Richmond House Editions, priced £14.95.