 Leaving Longtower School aged 10, Carson worked as salesman for the local "Derry Journal" newspaper and then in marketing, before deciding to become a freelance photographer.With the start of the conflict in Northern Ireland, Carson's work, along with many others', became widely viewed around the world, and photographers from all over the world visited and stayed at his home, using his back yard dark room to process their films and his front room to dry their prints.As well as documenting The Troubles, Carson also continued to capture the Derry life that continued alongside the conflict, and the changes in the town brought by redevelopment.