Hello this is me...and my beautiful ‘crew’ that love and support me in everything I do - my wife, my two sons and our black Labrador Oban. I live in beautiful North Nottinghamshire, within a stone’s throw of Sherwood Forest, and am blessed by the outstanding beauty we have on our own doorstep.
My family, including Dog and me.
I would describe myself as a serious amateur photographer with a highly professional approach, willing to try all genres of photography. I am open to commissioned work across the UK. I am happy to provide tuition in use of equipment, editing, presentation of images and in the field tuition. If you have any particular photography needs and like the look of my style and approach please reach out to me using the contact link above, or through my social channels listed below.
As you can see from my gallery, my specialisms in photography are very varied. I’m a true believer of trying, keep trying, failing, transferring skills and learning from all genres. You never stop learning, adapting and drawing from external influences. I enjoy landscape photography, the slow paced thought led approach and opportunity to plan and travel. I enjoy the challenges of cityscape photography, where access and vantage points are limited. I enjoy studio, location and model based photography, the challenge of communicating a concept to numerous parties to deliver a joint vision. And nature…let’s say I’m learning the trade, the patience, commitment and low image hit rate isn’t easy!
I am willing to try and give my best to any project/photography assignment.
My Background
I grew up for the majority of my childhood in the Cotswolds, and have always shown an interest in the great outdoors, adventures in life (big or small) and exploring new areas of the world. I've lived all over from the Middle East, Bristol, Plymouth, and Oxford and now reside in Nottinghamshire.
I am not a professional full time photographer, this is my primary hobby. I am a full time husband, dad and dog dad with a full time career within a leading kids arts and craft global brand. I have worked in business insight and analytics for major retailers and brands, with my focus on attention to detail and providing business strategy (making complicated stuff easy to understand).
I also enjoy walking with the family and running, with my perfect running distance being the half marathon. Photography is a great creative output for me and in many ways has many similar aspects to my career. I also use my running to scope out new photography locations (convenient!).
How did I get into photography and where did I learn?
I've always 'dabbled' in photography since a kid with the family Minolta Autopak 450TX camera in the 1980's/ early 90's but didn't really show a true interest into photography until later in life.
My eldest son was born in 2012, and to capture those precious moments I bought my first 'proper camera', my Sony A35, an early mirrorless camera - and it went from there. I joined the local camera club in Long Eaton, and then moved onto Clay Cross Photography Society where I was the exhibition secretary for the national photography exhibition for 2 years running 2020 and 2021.
My eldest son was born in 2012, and to capture those precious moments I bought my first 'proper camera', my Sony A35, an early mirrorless camera - and it went from there. I joined the local camera club in Long Eaton, and then moved onto Clay Cross Photography Society where I was the exhibition secretary for the national photography exhibition for 2 years running 2020 and 2021.
Clay Cross Photographic Society - CXPS meets Monday evenings at St Mary's Centre, Pilsley.
https://www.claycrossps.co.uk/
https://www.claycrossps.co.uk/
I am now a member of Rolls Royce Photographic Society (RRPS) and joined in May 2022. I made the change as the club is more competition focussed and offers a fantastic support/development program as well as a superb calendar of events. RRPS meet every Wednesday evening in Derby.
I cannot recommend your local camera club enough, a chance to engage with photographers from all genres, share ideas and evaluate each other’s work. I am also part of a smaller network of local photographers called H15, where our goal is to be more practical and discussion based in our approach, which is much more effective than clubs with larger groups.
Outside of the club photography circuit I am self-taught within photography. From camera operation, to camera gear, studio lighting all the way to Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and On-1 software for editing. So I thank my external influence (see button above) and the many hours put into watching YouTube and being inspired to just getting out there to shoot and learn from my experiences.
What do I do with my images?
When I return from a shoot the first job is to sift through and find the keepers. The final images are then edited or added to a project folder for creative projects. If the image is for a client shoot a wider range of images for selection will be shared with basic edits. The small handful of images I select will then go through the following process:
1) Compete in online photography competitions
2) If successful in point 1 I will then select for club/BPE photography competitions in the form of digital images or prints
3) Successful images in from point 2 will go into annual regional NEMPF competitions and get posted onto this website.