Photography
My photography
I use photography to show something about where I’ve been or people whom I’ve met. As well as trying to see the beauty in a scene or situation, I’m also trying to convey ideas and feelings. My photography is about me and what I do, who I meet and where I go. All my photography tries to be contemporary and creative. I’m resistant to being fitted in to a taxonomy by categorisation such as “travel” or “conceptual” or “nature”. All image-making is political simply by the act of selection and hence exclusion but I am not campaigning for any particular point of view, except to try to see the positives and to live life to the full.
I use 645, 35mm and DX formats plus a handy little digital compact that shoots RAW files. I’ve experimented with non-lens photography - do ask!
I first worked in a monochrome/silver wet darkroom at age 7, helping my Father with scientific prints; I’ve used colour negative materials since age 21 and digital since 2005. I use Photoshop (Adobe) and Photopaint (Corel).
My photo of the icy Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Bell's Lane swing bridge in Maghull, Lancashire.
There's a fine Japanese Garden in the park between the BBC Television Centre and the White City estate. It is the remains of the Japan-British exhibition of 1910. There's a rock turtle, model volcanoes and a tranquil pond, home to a small number of well-fed ducks.
Despite being surrounded by the BBC's satellite dish farm, the outer spiral arm of the Television Centre star city, and the housing estate, it remains a haven, one of my favourite places for a stress-busting lunchtime walk, even in winter.
Seasonal snow in West London looking very pretty for my lunch-time walk in the blizzard.
Brighton's Burning the Clocks lantern parade and night festival celebrates the passing of the old time and the restarting of the clock after the winter solstice. The parade of lanterns and clock symbols is headed by the Lady of Light. The parade passes through the streets and lanes of Brighton, ending on the beach where the symbols of the old time are purified by fire and the water from the sea. It's a peculiarly secular event, appropriate for the city which the recent census identified as having the least believers in God in the UK.
Terry's garden in Preston Park, Brighton in Sussex; my photos showing his flowers, greengage tree, tree fern, pond and a very popular garden bird feeder. Lots of plants dating from prehistoric times, which would be handy if a dinosaur or pterodactyl happened to pass by, there's even a good supply of fresh bamboo ready for a giant panda but more usual visitors are Brighton seagulls and sparrows! Also a pretty sunset over towards Withdean and Hove.
