I was looking at what I wrote before about who I was and what drives me and I feel it doesn't tell the whole story and the story changes all the time.
I started taking photographs 30 years ago, whilst I was a student at Sherwood Hall Upper School in Mansfield. I was taught by my friend and fellow student Chris Hepple. Chris wasn't much ahead of me but he knew how to develop fims and photographs and we learned together. Chris and I lost contact after school and we caught up on Facebook just over a year ago. Whilst I went into IT he ended up running his own Building firm in Scarborugh. I had a message from his Sister, September last year, that Chris had died suddenly of a heart attack! We never got together again and on the day of his funeral I was shooting a wedding but I hope he knows how grateful I am for teaching me and giving me the passion 30 years ago.
OK enough of the sad tone. What's my ethos?
Weddings : I have been married for over 30 years and my wedding album contains just 20 images - no detail, just posed pictures, no shot of Jenny laughing as her veil was nearly blown away. My job as a wedding photographer is to capture all the details of your wedding so that in 10 years time you can look at your album and remember that you had blue sashes on your chairs and Aunty Helen wore a Blue Dress.
Portraits : I want to tell a story. A story of a day out in the woods, your children at play, feeding the ducks. Life's a story - spend time with me and let me record a little of your story
Why Black and White?
What draws me to this genre is its truthfulness. You can’t hide behind colour. Take for instance a red carnation. Have you really studied it? Really looked at the how it’s constructed? Take away the “confusion of colour” and you see what is underneath, the underlying structure, the texture, the complicated patterns of the petals shown beautifully in shades of black and white.
