About 

I have always been interested in the arts and wanted to draw or paint.

From the beginning, I could never be satisfied with the initial sketch lines necessary for either drawing or painting because they were rubbish  So when the father of a friend of mine showed me his photographs and camera, this could be the answer.

A Mechanical Painter!!!

And the technology was interesting.  He had one of the early Polaroid cameras in the1950’s and some sort of single lens reflex (no pentaprism then) but you could see colour images in real-time on the focusing screen.  Wow!

I got my first camera; 35mm film, rangefinder, good German lens; what more could a eleven year old kid want?  Well….after all the best photos had been taken.    Open your eyes,.. look around… look up,..look at shapes…look for other things others did not see or notice.  Colour film was not in a kid’s budget nor the mastery and challenges of colour processing.  So it was black and white for me, and I could develop the film myself and get a 36 contact print to choose any that were worth printing.  Also I learnt that you have to look at things differently in black and white and… even better… photos could be taken in poor weather.  Even the film grain could enhance the photograph.

I photograph because I enjoy.  I enjoy where I have been, I enjoy looking at the travels and recalling when I was there.  This means that I take photographs whatever the weather is and I often know that if I had the luxury of more time, I could get better lighting a better time of day or climb to a better advantage point to take the photograph.  So I could do better, I know, but it is better to capture something than nothing.

Always take the picture!  (But try to get the best framing, angle, and wait a little for the cloud to move)

I was interested in just about any technology that came past me and in the best quality I could get in anything.  The fastest, the sharpest, the most reliable.  So I learned to always frame the picture to the max and not use cropping.  That lenses perform best at certain apertures.  Tripods and minimize camera shake.  This led to mono-rail 4x5 cut film cameras in later life,  but how could I take them on holiday and I am much too lazy to carry huge boxes, black cloths and the massive tripods necessary halfway up a mountain.

So, now I settle for digital cameras (although I still prefer film for many of its qualities) and I insist on an eye level view finder and rarely use the little screen: I know the picture I have taken, but sometimes use it to check the image sharpness.

So these are some of my photographs.  Some people like them, although, I guess it is my nature to feel that I could always do better.  This makes it difficult to choose pictures for this web site, but it is my first stab at it, and they may give some people enjoyment from them.  I take photographs because it is that moment in time and it will never come back again… or the lighting … or the exact place.  If you like any of them, let me know and I shall be happy to send you a copy in the original resolution, but I would ask for them not to be used for commercial purposes unless you ask for permission.