Biography
I have had a camera since the age of about seven, when my paternal grandfather gave me a Kodak folding camera.
One of the first pictures I took with the camera was a shot of my grandfather standing on some stone steps.
When I had taken all 12 shots on the film, my grandfather had the film processed and printed for me. From the first moment I got the prints back I was hooked by the visual effect of the black and white image, even in the negative!
Although I have not always been able to afford a camera or film and processing, photography has always been part of my life.
I didn't really start to take photography seriously until I was 17 or so, when I went to Art College and attended an evening class in darkroom technique. Watching the lecturer set-up, shoot, process and print the photos reminded me of the earlier fascination I had for taking pictures and I was off again. This time I had access to equipment at college and was able to buy myself a camera with my grant. The camera was a Russian Zorki 4 - a 35mm rangefinder that was modelled on the Contax but without the build quality!
One of the first pictures I took with the camera was a shot of my grandfather standing on some stone steps.
When I had taken all 12 shots on the film, my grandfather had the film processed and printed for me. From the first moment I got the prints back I was hooked by the visual effect of the black and white image, even in the negative!
Although I have not always been able to afford a camera or film and processing, photography has always been part of my life.
I didn't really start to take photography seriously until I was 17 or so, when I went to Art College and attended an evening class in darkroom technique. Watching the lecturer set-up, shoot, process and print the photos reminded me of the earlier fascination I had for taking pictures and I was off again. This time I had access to equipment at college and was able to buy myself a camera with my grant. The camera was a Russian Zorki 4 - a 35mm rangefinder that was modelled on the Contax but without the build quality!
I have always preferred to work in black and white, although I have often used colour when a commissioned project required it.
I capture images from just about any source, preferring not to 'pigeon hole' myself by specialising in any particular genre. I prefer to let the picture reveal itself to me rather than consciously seek it out. I like my photography to be 'organic' in as much as I like to just respond to what I encounter, whatever the subject matter might be.
Inevitably, I am subject to influences and although there are photographers whose work I admire, I prefer instead to relate to photographs rather than photographers.
I firmly believe in the therapeutic qualities of photography. The process of capturing, processing and sharing images can be cathartic for both photographer and audience. This field of Therapeutic Photography is one of the directions my personal work has taken in recent years.
Like most photographers of my age, I started in film and the wet process, but have recently moved over to digital. The transition has not been a smooth one and has take me about five years to complete. Now that digital equipment and software have progressed to the point where a comparable quality to silver based photography can be achieved, the benefits of the immediacy and flexibility of digital make the old process seem tedious and time-consuming.
I capture images from just about any source, preferring not to 'pigeon hole' myself by specialising in any particular genre. I prefer to let the picture reveal itself to me rather than consciously seek it out. I like my photography to be 'organic' in as much as I like to just respond to what I encounter, whatever the subject matter might be.
Inevitably, I am subject to influences and although there are photographers whose work I admire, I prefer instead to relate to photographs rather than photographers.
I firmly believe in the therapeutic qualities of photography. The process of capturing, processing and sharing images can be cathartic for both photographer and audience. This field of Therapeutic Photography is one of the directions my personal work has taken in recent years.
Like most photographers of my age, I started in film and the wet process, but have recently moved over to digital. The transition has not been a smooth one and has take me about five years to complete. Now that digital equipment and software have progressed to the point where a comparable quality to silver based photography can be achieved, the benefits of the immediacy and flexibility of digital make the old process seem tedious and time-consuming.