As this is my first blog it seems only good manners to start with a little background. Born so long ago I can barely remember it, my dad bought me my first camera – a Kodak Brownie 127 – on a family holiday in Cornwall when I was 10 years old. By the age of 14 a fascination had become an obsession and the school darkroom became a second home. Escaping formal education at the tender age of 16, I joined a small commercial studio in Ewell, Surrey, where I learned everything I’ve never forgotten about wet printing. From there I moved on to join Mike Patrick working on Speedway Star magazine and followed that by a stint with Tony Duffy and John Starr at the (then) fledgling AllSport agency, elegantly located behind a loan-shark’s offices in darkest Croydon. Eighteen months shooting basketball, grass-skiing, skateboarding and motorcycle racing soon lost its appeal and I moved into the commercial sector joining Frank Wood’s Pictorial Publicity in Surbiton as their second photographer. Here I refined my studio and location lighting skills, photographing everything from breweries to cosmetics. My boss left, taking half our clients with him, and six months later I set up on my own with the remainder forming my first client base. The rest as they say, is history. Over 38 years in the business I’ve shot everything from Formula 1 for BMW to jewellery for Marks and Spencer. Professional photography remains my life and I hope future posts will give some interesting insights into that world…
Let’s start at the very beginning . . .
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