Behind The Shot

My Photo Story From the Loft Darkroom to the Digital Age

So, my photography journey is a bit of a lifelong obsession, kicking off way back in the early 80s. When I was 16, I basically pooled every birthday gift and every scrap of pocket money I had to buy my first proper camera: an Olympus OM2n with a seriously fast 50mm f/1.2 silver nose lens. It felt like holding a magic wand, and it immediately opened up this whole new world.

What started it all was the raw excitement of motorsport. I spent my teenage years just glued to the rally stages around the Midlands, chasing the action. But it wasn’t just about snapping pictures; it was about the ritual. I was totally self-taught, setting up a proper, pitch-black darkroom in my family’s dusty old loft. The smell of those chemicals—fixer, developer—is a memory I can still pull up instantly. And get this: I actually managed to sell some of my resulting black and white prints directly to the drivers at the pre-race checks. That was a huge thrill!

I took a brief detour in the late 80s to focus intensely on bodybuilding (a completely different kind of discipline!), but I jumped right back into photography in the 90s and honestly, I haven’t put a camera down since. Over the years, I’ve played with basically every system: the ruggedness of Nikon, the beautiful colours of Fuji, and the innovation of Sonyand Canon. I just love learning what each tool can do.

Nowadays, my work is pretty diverse. One minute, I’m doing the fast-paced stuff—travel, street, and wildlife—and the next, I’m diving headfirst into the moody, cinematic world of dark photography. I love scouting locations steeped in folklore, checking out ancient graveyards, or just finding historical spots where the shadows tell the real story.

Whether I’m hunting for that perfect morning light or embracing the deep drama of an evening shadow, photography is the one thing that has always, always been there. It’s my favourite way to explore and capture the world’s constant stream of mystery, colour, and human story.