About

About Me

I’m from Halifax, West Yorkshire, UK and have lived here all my life (since 1969) I have a passion for WILDLIFE, NATURE and photographing people

Where It All Began

I got my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic, as a Christmas present at the age of 11 (1980), and used it for family and holiday snaps
Then at 16 (1985), I bought myself a fully manual camera, a 35mm Agfa Silette Super, and taught myself how to use it by trial and error

When my eldest was born (1993) I wanted to do what most parents do, and capture memories, I wanted to improve, so I started researching photography
Then a friend told me that the local college was doing a photography course, so I enrolled

I started college (1994) with my old Agfa 35mm, but soon realised I wanted more, so I bought an SLR camera, a Praktica BX20, a standard 50mm lens and a 28mm wide angle lens
I built my own darkroom at home and produced my own black and white prints, which friends took great interest in, and bought many of them to display in their homes
This gave me a drive to push my photography further and I gained my City and Guilds qualification in 1996

In 1996 I was asked to photograph the wedding of a family friend
I was very nervous (understatement), but I managed, and I enjoyed the free roam around the ceremony to get the shots I wanted, it gave me a taste of something different

I wanted to photograph the local wildlife so I added a 70-210mm lens to my kit and this opened up a whole new world that I could photograph

In 2005 I was asked to photograph a family member’s wedding, it was a long day but I enjoyed it, then along came another, then another, and another
I was doing something I enjoyed, and decided I wanted to capture the memories for others, so I advertised myself, the word soon spread amongst my friends, and their friends, and before I knew it I was photographing WEDDINGS all over the UK

In 2008 I moved on to an autofocus SLR, Minolta Dynax 500i Super, I’d taken another step forward with technology and used it to my advantage when photographing wildlife

As I was also photographing weddings I realised I needed a second camera (as a back up, and so I didn’t have to miss shots when changing the lenses) so I bought a Minolta Dynax 500i

In 2010 I took the plunge and went digital, I bought a Sony Alpha A380, and had to learn how to use computer software as my digital darkroom.
The ease of processing my own images in colour aswell as black and white became a lot quicker, and because I was photographing weddings I bought another camera of the same model

In 2013 I bought myself a portable studio (backdrop and lights) so I could push the portrait side further, but my daughters soon got tired of me photographing them so I could practice, so I am always on the lookout for models so I can build my portfolio
If you’d like to be a practice model, please CONTACT ME

In 2016 I upgraded my main camera body to a Sony A77v, but still used my Sony A380 cameras as spare bodies for weddings because I know how to use them to get the images I want, and the images my clients want

In 2020 I upgraded my main camera body to a Sony A77ii, and use my Sony A77v as the spare body for weddings and event