About Me and My Photography
I started taking photos from a young age, I was about 12 years old when I discovered this exciting art form called photography. Quickly wanting to get better I would commandeer the house bathroom as my darkroom and spend hours printing my pictures on a small one light enlarger. It was amazing when for a Christmas present, I was given a timer, wow that made things so much better.
I soon became a pest because of the contestant commandeering of the bathroom so I was given the shed to convert into my darkroom and then I was in my element.
At the age of fifteen and leaving school I was so luck y to get a job in a commercial studio and spent the next two years in the dark printing black and white photographs from the work produced through the day. We could print several hundred prints a day from a 7×5″ to 8 feet by 4 feet, this was to be my home for the next two years and I loved every day.
It’s not often you get the chance in life to work at the thing you absolutely love and there was not a day that I looked back on in my 9 years of employment that I did not enjoy.
1987 was a major turning point in my life, in January at the age of 24 my dear mother passed away aged 48, two weeks after I got sacked and my life just literally stopped and if not for my wife of then three years and father-in-law, I really don’t know what my future would have become.
At the age of 24 I then embarked on my journey out there on my own initially full of hatred one for the loss of my mother and second for the job I had treasured for those years and hatred does not give you any benefit. I went after every customer from my old employers I could. I took as much business as I was able to court and soon established my ground as a recognized wedding and commercial photographer in my own right.
I became festinated in the beaty of photographs and having never really got to grips with model work this became a new passion as the years passed by. I am not sure how many photo sessions I have completed to date since seeing this side of the industry but it runs into hundreds. Having work published having now taught the aspects of model photography. My home away from normal day to day work is in the studio trying new things and meeting the most beautiful and extraordinary people. Being able to visually explore (as I call it) a female body in the finest details I find them fascinating. Having grown up in a world of dancers who when competing or in a show don’t have the time to do anything other than a quick change by just stripping off where ever they are, then a female being nude is not something unknown or to be frightened of and I think that helps me in the preparation of the images I want to take with the cooperation of the models that also get a pleasure in being photographed this way.
I have now in 2022 completed 35 years in business and all together 44 years’ service in this wonderful industry and I never got the chance to thank my one and only boss for everything he taught me because those first years set the tone for what has been an amazing journey over this time. That was until 2021 when the phone rang, I did not recognize that voice on the other end of the phone, but he knew who I was. My old boss wanted me to do a job for him and after 33 years I was able to repay my thanks for everything I had been taught. We met and chatted and we completed the job of copying all his family slides for the children I knew, now as adults to have as their memories. No money exchanged hands, I had been given enough from this man for a lifetime of service to this business but the pleasure to hear the words “you have done well and you have a really great business here and I am truly sorry for what happened” was enough.
My kit is vast, studio equipment, light modifiers cameras and lenses galore but I favor two cameras, I am and always will be a Canon user. I use Canon 6D Mk 1 and Mk 2 bodies with an assortment of prime f 2.8 lenses as well as L series lenses that cover 24mm to 300mm in range. I was talked into looking at the Sony Alpha 7rii body for outdoor shooting with the advantage of using the Sigma Canon fit adaptor so I could continue to use all my existing lenses and that has been by outdoor camera of choice. I use Lencata flash lights in the studio as the main lights with a range of modifiers.
My studio is in Bournemouth on the South Coast of the UK and one of the things I love is to meet new people. photographers and models alike and anyone with a passion for photographs. I have some great friends in the business from all over the world and to hear their experiences is always a pleasure so come and say hi if you want. Follow my social media pages on Instagram and if you want to learn what I do and how I do it, I am always keen to pass on my knowledge as it was done to me.
If you want to get involved and give me your story or experience, we are just embarking on a new podcast adventure, so drop me a message and we will set up a recording and tell the world who is out there.
Thanks for reading. This page will be expanded upon frequently.
