Essential Info
MY BACKGROUND
My Interest in photography started when i was around 12years old with a Fujica STX1N and a std 50mm lens. Even then the main subject matter was trains, but mainly modern traction around the Rugby to Birmingham area (I’m sad to say Ive lost the negatives to most these over the years). That camera stayed with me till the late 90′s when i bought an Olympus OM2n and various lens & flash guns. It was then that my interest in photography changed forever, i started taking it seriously and photographing wildlife, just locally at first then wandering further afield to get the hard to find species, this lead to a wonderful week in the Spanish Pyrenees in 1999 to capture images of once common British butterflies & Orchids now sadly extinct or limited to small pockets of managed reserves.
As my library became swollen with good quality images i became encouraged by my uncle (who is a wonderful wildlife photographer) to start entering some of them into British photographic salons. My first acceptance was in 1998 at the Solihull club’s ”British Photographic Salon”, that photo was of a wading bird called a Redshank taken in Norfolk. From that moment on i became hooked on entering salons, and started entering as many as i could across all continents. This continued till around 2003 and in that time I’d accumulated over 120 acceptances around the world & over 50 in the British circuits. Amongst these acceptance’s medals and highly commended ribbons & certificates started appearing. It was these Acceptance’s which gave me the initials you see on the front page. BPE stands for British Photographic Exhibitor & PSA is Photographic society of America, the stars are based on the number of acceptance’s you get. The greater the number the higher the star.
Then in 1999 my life changed dramatically i met a wonderful lady who was to become my wife in 2002. By 2003 we had bought a house together, got married & had the first of our 2 children. As you can see my priorities changed a little and my camera kit became virtually mothballed. And this stayed the case apart from the odd day out.
This was also the time i started archiving my old 35mm slides, and i discovered that amongst the nature there was also a strong theme of steam trains pictures, nothing special just snap shots from when i helped restore Carrog Station on the llangollen railway and the odd visit to the Severn valley railway.
The fascination of steam trains was there from a young child and this fascination resulted in me helping to restore Ex Great Western large pararie tank 5199. As a modern day automotive engineer i just look at them in awe. Watching the movements and listening to the noises and then of course there’s the smell….the wonderful concoction of steam, oil & coal. I try to imagine what it must have been like to work day after day in a place like Swindon or Crewe works. You only have to stand next to one and you can begin to appreciate the work involved, i honestly believe they are amongst the best feats of engineering man has ever made. They conjure up that classic saying……. ”in the old’un day’s…..”(as your granparents would say!)
Around 2005 i decided to dust down the kit and set aside some time to shooting again. This time though i decided my main subject was going to be the railways. And so i began, my first pictures were ok but nothing brilliant, i wanted to be closer to the track so a lineside pass on the Great Central railway was purchased. Whilst the quality improved still i wasn’t happy with the final picture. At this time the once laughable digital SLR’s were becoming serious competition to the 35mm film SLR’s . I decided it was time to make the change and start taking pictures with the creation from the devil…….! I stayed with Nikon brand and bought a D80 and if you want my honest opinion (for what its worth) i have never looked back! I was finally getting the images i desired, but of course anyone who has a digi SLR will know you need a Computer to view & manipulate ( sorry i mean dodge & burn to anyone who remembers darkrooms….). So i started to learn how to use the modern day darkroom - Photoshop. Nearly all the pictures you will see on this site will have ”photoshop twicks” to some minor extent.
So what else have i bought since the D80? Well ive bought another Digi SLR body a D300 to be precise, along with some the best glass you can get your mits on! And have i noticed any difference…? Hell yes as with cars you only get what you pay for. If you buy a Ford dont expect a Merc or BMW.
My collection of pictures now contains sufficient quality & quantity to justify this website & now is the right time to start showing you.
long may that continue.