Biography & Equipment

About me, and the tools of my trade...

Born and bred in Wisbech, "Capital of the Fens", back in the early seventies I spent my formative years in the flat local landscape, apart from one well remembered trip to Snowdonia before I was a teenager. On meeting my wife (to be at the time) it soon became apparent that as a child she had been further afield - Derbyshire! Her tales of walking up hills, combined with the thought of being alone in the countryside sold me on the idea and we took our first trip to the Peak District, walking on Stanage Edge and Mam Tor. From there, with the bug well and truly caught we became more and more "outdoors" people - country walking, hillwalking, camping, cycling...I've even had a go at climbing. We shared a passion for the peace of nature, and it's beauty. Five years ago, on top of Green Gable in the Lake District, my wife was in agony, struggling to reach the top, and finding it even harder going down. On returning home a trip to the doctor diagnosed Osteoarthritis in both knees. The pain made walking up or down hill just too hard - now what would we do to celebrate our love of the countryside?

The answer came with a basic 2MP Nikon point and shoot, taken away on that painful trip, which resulted in quite a few images that people were impressed by. A little thought and a purchase or two later (actually more like ten or eleven purchases) I ended up with the kit detailed below. The obvious answer was to do flat walking in the hilly areas - and take pictures of the mountains from below...usually pictures from on top aren't as good anyway!

Over the last few years my photography has been a journey from beginning to where I am now. Completely self taught I feel I'm now developing my own style, my own way of seeing things. Usually this is a calm take on the natural world, a view that you would want to stop and admire.
At the same time, with the aid of herbal remedies and increased exercise my wife can now walk up some hills again, meaning I can attempt some of those tricky summit shots!





For all those interested, whether you be budding photographers, technology fans or just curious the following is a list of the equipment I currently use.

Nikon D200 DSLR camera
with
Tokina 12-24AT-X PRO, Sigma 28-70DG & Nikkor 55-200G IF-ED lenses

Manfrotto 190CX Carbon Fibre tripod with 488RC2 ball and socket head

Lee 100mm filter system holder with Heliopan circular polariser and Formatt Hi Tech ND Grad filters (0.3, 0.6 & 0.9)

Hotshoe mounted spirit level


All in all a fairly basic kit, but suitable for pretty much any circumstance. I use a Lowepro CompuRover AW rucksack to carry the above equipment, plus waterproofs, spare warm clothing and food and drink - I've never called Mountain Rescue yet and I don't intend to have to by being unprepared.

If you want any more information please feel free to email me, details on the contact page.