[2][3] His work is held in the collections of Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.
Having studied fine art in Yorkshire he began his photography practice in the early 1970s, following a move to Australia.
In Sydney, Shelton worked as a freelance photo-journalist for newspapers such as Nation Review, The Age, and The Digger.
In 1976, Shelton returned to London and established the design and photography partnership Red Wedge Graphics' which evolved into the current agency Graphicsi.
During the 1980s, as well as producing photographs for magazines and the press, and graphics for the public and private sector, Shelton co-edited, and was art director of, a series of photographic books that includes Day in the Life of London, and Ireland: A Week in the Life of a Nation.