Biography

I was born in Sunderland, County Durham, in August 1964. My father was a School Master and my mother a Home-Maker. In July 1971 I was given my first camera as an early seventh birthday present, by my father, so I could take photographs of a school trip to the zoo (none of those photographs have survived). In 1973 I received a Polaroid Instant 20 Land Camera for Christmas (again from my father and though some images exist, my family would need to give permission for any to ever be published).

With the death of my father in March 1977 photography was held in abeyance for a while until I started taking photographs again when my I was given a 126 camera for my seventeenth birthday in 1981 – followed a little while later by the donation of a 110 camera. Being young and socially active these cameras went everywhere and were the only ones I could afford to use given I had to pay for all developing and printing through high street shops.

In October 1982 I sold my first image and started working as a photographer. I called myself "Taken images" and nearly fifty years later, it's "Taken images Photography" and in addition to travel, wildlife and macro photography I offer "TiPs" through training courses.

In 1987 I met my partner who was a student at Durham University and who is a gifted photographer. They introduced me to the wonders of the dark room and using their mother’s Konica camera, photography was suddenly a very important element of my life (though not as important as my partner for we are married)

On receiving an inheritance from an aunt (Nancy) in 1995, we bought a new Canon EOS 500 Film camera. Hundreds of films later and my partner had an exhibition of their black and white images in the UK in 1998. In 2002 we bought a new Fujifilm Finepix S602 Zoom and this changed photography significantly for me. I instantly understood how the camera works, what I can achieve with it and more importantly – what all the buttons do.

In 2004 we took a career break and moved to France where we relaxed and recharged our batteries. At this time my partner realised that they doesn’t like digital photography and though encouraged to continue, stopped taking photographs.

I was in my element and after some success in a UK based photography competition I discovered that photography is a real passion. In 2006 we returned to the UK and in October 2007 I turned professional and bought a Fujifilm S5 PRO.

In 2008 I was requested by New College, Stamford, to work for them as a Photography Tutor for a year. Whilst there I was also contacted by The King’s (The Cathedral) School, Peterborough, and started their Photography Clubs. In 2011 I also started teaching Art and Photography for King's and was approached by Great Houghton School, Northampton, who employed me as Head of Photography until July 2014 when the school entered administration. In 2015 I moved on and my career teaching continues to this day.

I use whichever camera I have to hand at that moment, sometimes my phone, sometimes a film camera, sometimes a DSLR. The camera used for each image is listed beneath the photograph.

Very recently, my partner started taking photographs on a regular basis again and I'm really happy about that.


April, 2022