From a seedling to now...

12/06/07

Shortly after being born in Singapore in 1955 we moved to Hong Kong where I grew up apart from an eighteen month stint in a boarding school in Brisbane, Australia.

From an early age I was aware of my father taking photographs. He had his own dark room and did all his own developing and enlarging. Mainly black and white but he did venture into early colour. He owned a Rolleicord which I imagine being the state of the art in those days. I am proud to say I have the Rolleicord now.

At the age of eighteen I attended Oxford Air Training School and at nineteen had obtained my Professional Pilot’s License. I qualified as the first fuel crisis bit into the economy and as employment was hard to find I returned to Hong Kong and became a flying instructor at the Aero Club.

After “building” my hours I decided to return to the UK and soon had a job flying Piper Aztecs for an air charter company based in Jersey. A year later I was with the Air Anglia Executive Fleet living in Norfolk. I flew corporate aircraft for Norwich Union and Reckitt and Colman. I also flew charter and scheduled flights operating Navajo Chieftains, Beechcraft King Airs and Embraer Bandeirantes. Later I was based in Scotland firstly Edinburgh operating the Fokker F27 then Aberdeen for a year flying the BAC 1-11 jet aircraft.

After ten years I moved to Cheshire to join Monarch Airlines. Initially flying the Boeing 757 then a year later underwent a command course on the Boeing 737. And last year [2006] was flying the Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft on European scheduled and charter flights, until August 4th 2006.

Although keen to pursue photography I never managed to fit it into my busy life until a number of years ago when I bought a Canon A80 digital camera to record my motorcycling adventures.

Steve Rainbow one of my First Officers and a very accomplished photographer persuaded me to upgrade to a DSLR. I bought the “new” Nikon D200. I have since updated to the Nikon D3.

Then suddenly minutes into my summer leave I suffered a heart attack. After a four day spell in hospital I returned home and was soon hooked on my new camera. Using my time to improve my images and PhotoShop skills, uploading my website, travelling and making new photos.

My recovery from the heart attack has been very good however I’ll never be fit enough to hold a professional pilot’s medical again.

I am now able to give 100% to my passion for recording nature and man made beauty. This is a very exciting new beginning and I feel fortunate that fate has taken a hand in steering me into the fascinating world of photography.