About Me
Since my teens, generally, but more seriously from 2000, when I spent 3 months in Australia and New Zealand.
What kit do you use?
Currently I use Nikon D50 & D60 DSLRs with 18-70mm, 55-200mm, 35mm & 16-85mm lenses, & Nikon Coolpix P50 & Panasonic Lumix TZ6 compacts. I also have a couple of tripods, a monopod & enough other bits & pieces to be boring to list....
Where are you based?
In West Oxfordshire, in the market town of Faringdon.
Where did you most enjoy taking photographs?
New Zealand
Where would you like to go to to take pictures?
I'd like to go to Canada, but there are lots of places in the UK which I would like to visit or re-visit.
Where would you go back to if you could?
Sydney. (Despite my comment above about re-visiting places in the UK!) I'd like another chance to photograph the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Darling Harbour.
What do you most like to photograph?
All sorts, but I'm especially keen on architectural details, and gaps, gates & doorways. Maybe with the latter it is because of the idea of what is beyond...
What would you like to improve?
Interior work. I find buildings and 'place' fascinating and would like to be able to capture them better. I'd also like to do more studio work with people/pets, but that involves a bigger financial outlay than I can currently afford!
Do you have a favourite of the photographs which you've taken?
Not really! It tends to change almost from day to day depending on what I've been photographing. Although the picture of the Corbie Rose from which the site header is taken has particular references for me, and I also like the image of the tulips reflected in the car which is in the gates & gaps gallery.
Which other photographers do you like?
I've always loved Ansel Adams' work, and I regularly look at other photographers' work both because it is interesting, and because I find it motivational. I often get ideas from other people's work, too.
Do you buy other photographer's work?
Yes, sometimes. The picture I like best is a print I bought from an exhibition in Oxford, which is a simply & beautifully lit picture of a pewter goblet and a bread roll. It has been in my kitchen ever since.
What do you enjoy apart from photography?
I have loved books and reading since I was a young child, and still read for pleasure almost every day. I enjoy lots of genres of books - working for a publisher I get to see a wide variety - but I especially enjoy mysteries and suspense novels. Anne Perry's series about the 1st world war, starting with the book No Graves As Yet is a wonderful series which taught me a lot about life during that period.
I collect children's books from the 40s to 60s and I have been collecting Christmas decorations for years - I buy one good quality decoration each year. I enjoy dressing the Christmas tree each year with them. I guess neither of those show me to be a cutting edge collector!
I also like running, which I do very slowly! I have run the Great South Run (10 miles) three times and completed a number of other shorter events.
If you have other questions you'd like answered, please let me know & I'll see what I can do!