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I was born in 1946 in the fishing village of Looe in S. E. Cornwall and brought up in Torpoint on the Tamar Estuary at the Devon and Cornwall border. My love of natural history, especially birds, was fired at a very early age with the surrounding countryside of Cornwall providing the initial inspiration. As a boy I spent many hours drawing birds and landscapes and at the age of fourteen came into contact with the work of Cezanne and the French Impressionists - this was a key factor in shaping my education. In 1966 I attended a pre-diploma course at Falmouth School of Art that eventually led to a Diploma in Fine Art at Gloucestershire College of Art. During my time at art college I was drawn to the work of the American Abstract Expressionists and Minimalists, but it was the ideas of Paul Klee and Joseph Albers who were to shape the course of my own work, from the early paintings, my wildlife photography and more recently the images that are created out of nature that are displayed in this website.  I developed a passionate interest for still photography during a post graduate course at Manchester University, and it was not long before this and love of natural history combined to provide the perfect outlet for my creative aspirations. From 1971 – 86 I taught painting and printmaking and photography in London, and then in 1986 became a freelance wildlife photographer travelling to many parts of the world in pursuit of photographic material. My work from this period can be seen in many publications, working with naturalists such as Hadoram Shirihai, Bill Oddie, Chris Packham and Nick Baker. It was during my time teaching in London that my photographic technique developed, founded on the principles of composition I had learnt at art college, and by studying the work of photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Paul Strand and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Perhaps the greatest influence came from the Italian photographer Franco Fontana, whom I was fortunate enough to meet in London in 1994, who through his work showed me how abstract principles in the world about us could assert themselves in photographs creating a balance between abstract and formal values.For the last 30 years I have lived in Tottenham in northeast London with my wife Rita and where my daughter Anna was born. As a family we draw on the wonderful diversity of cultures that the city has to offer and regularly visit some of the finest art galleries and concert halls in the world. I also live close to the Lee Valley Regional Park, a series of nature reserves that stretch from the River Thames northwards for 28 miles to Amwell in Hertfordshire. Since the 1980’s I have worked extensively photographing wildlife in the Lee Valley and more recently developing the ideas and images that contribute to this website. |
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I believe that any visual work of art whether it is abstract, representational or somewhere between the two should be based on the formal elements of line, tone, colour and texture. These elements if clearly defined have the ability to interact with themselves and with each other and create visual interest from passive subtlety through to dynamic excitement. It is this visual interest that will draw the viewer to the work to further study the ideas and the content. My own photography is based upon this principal from the very start of my working process. My eye is attracted to areas that show strong abstract qualities and I begin a process of photographing the area to try and find interesting compositions. It is important for me to capture the composition full frame and not look to cropping the image later in the computer. The reason is that I am emotionally moved to capture the image that I composed within the whole picture frame ( as Cezanne said of his painting if I move a little to the left or right etc.) My decision on what to photograph in the field is initially based upon an area that has strong visual qualities, but once the image has been downloaded into the computer no reference is made back to the original source. At this point the image begins its own process of evolution, generated by my response to the formal elements within it. As I fine tune these elements certain feelings may evolve and I may adjust such things as tonal values, colour balance and colour saturation to emphasize what is evolving. I believe that the mystery is triggered by what we can see and not by what we can’t. Emotive feelings are created by the visual interest of the formal elements in the picture, which can trigger parallel or similar experiences in the viewers, who draw on their own experiences that enable them to move beyond surface values. The mystery is conveyed not by what we can’t see but by what we can. |
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All my images are recorded onto raw files and are often under-exposed by one stop. This is done to ensure that sufficient detail is recorded in the highlight areas with one eye looking towards the production of the prints. If the shadow areas become a little dark they can easily be adjusted in the computer but detail not recorded in the highlights is gone forever. The images are opened in Nikon Capture where some image adjustment is usually made and then exported to Adobe Photoshop for the final production. Before any work on the image is done the final print size is set and the ppi is interpolated to 300, although currently with the Nikon D3 body images are captured at that quality. When the image looks close to being complete a test print of a section is done at correct size and if necessary further adjustments are made. The final test prints are of the whole image and as many as necessary are made until I am happy with the image. Once the work on the print is complete it remains unaltered and the edition is printed. I have always used Epson printers to print my limited edition prints and currently I am using the Epson R2400 printer which uses pigment inks giving the prints archival properties. To ensure that those archival properties are sustained they are currently printed on Hahnemühle Photorag paper which is acid free (the presents of acids will have the effect of fading colours over a period of time). |
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I have always used Nikon equipment starting with the Nikkormat body which I bought in 1972 in Singapore along with a Nikon 50mm 2.8 lens. Since then I have had a series of cameras as newer models came onto the market – Nikon FE, Nikon 801, Nikon F3. Nikon F4, Nikon F5. My first digital body was the Nikon D100 followed by the Nikon D1X, Nikon D2X, Nikon D3. I now currently use the Nikon D3X camera body.
I use a wide range of lenses
In addition I currently use the converter:-
I use a tripod whenever I can especially when I need to stop down to increase depth of field of field such as when I am working with textural images on tree bark and rock formations. I have several tripods and a variety of heads and like the combination of using Gitzo legs and Manfroto heads. |
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